Can the McLaren team Keep Playing Fair and Halt Verstappen? - F1 Questions and Answers

Must McLaren Accept Reality of F1 - That to Win, You Can't Always Be Fair?

The McLaren team are fully conscious of the challenge they confront with Verstappen and the Red Bull team in the drivers' championship this year, but they don't believe to modify their approach to managing the team.

They will continue to give their two drivers the optimal opportunity they can and operate the team on a foundation of fairness and equanimity.

"This is the way we intend competing. This is the way in which we approach racing, and we aim to stay fair, and we want to apply equal treatment to our drivers."

Team principal Stella is a veteran of many title battles. He claimed the title as engineer to Raikkonen in 2007 when the Ferrari racer made up seventeen points under the old scoring system in two Grands Prix to secure the title, while the McLaren team imploded.

And he missed out on the title as race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 season, when Ferrari made errors in their race strategy at the last Grand Prix of the season and allowed Vettel and Red Bull to sneak the championship from their grasp.

Stella said after the Grand Prix in Texas: "We view the next five races as chances to increase the gap on Max. And when it involves having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics."

"We lean on the experience. I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you reach the final Grand Prix and it's actually the [driver in] third [place] that wins the title. So we're not going to close the door unless this is determined by the calculations."

What Prompted McLaren to Cease Upgrades on This Year's Car?

All teams this year have had to face the dilemma of how long to concentrate on their 2025 season car while also ensuring they are as prepared as they can be for the major rules overhaul scheduled for 2026.

In F1, it's usually the case that if a team makes mistakes at the start of a new rules cycle, it can take a long time to catch up. And if they get it right, that benefit can continue for some time - look at Red Bull in 2022 and 2023, the most recent occasion the rules were modified.

McLaren began this season with the best car, after putting a lot of technical development into their 2025 design.

They continued to improve it for a while, but were finding diminishing returns. So when evaluating the value for money they were getting on their 2025 season car versus the 2026 car, it became an straightforward decision to redirect attention to next year.

Red Bull have closed the gap since introducing their new floor and nose section at the Monza Grand Prix, but the McLaren car remains competitive - team boss Stella stated he thought Lando Norris had the speed to compete for the win in Texas had he not finished following Leclerc.

"We must continue maximising the performance and keep executing strong weekends. And from this point of view, if you think of a Grand Prix like Baku City Circuit, we failed to optimize the performance and we didn't deliver a flawless race."

"Therefore we have a significant opportunity, and the outcome of this championship and the driver's title is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands."

Driver Transfers: How Challenging Is It to Switch Teams?

Initially, it's uncertain the question has an completely correct basis. It's true that both Lewis Hamilton and Sainz had somewhat difficult first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are currently faring significantly improved.

Carlos Sainz and Albon currently look very even. However, it's less certain that, in Lewis Hamilton's case, he is currently the "equal" of Leclerc - or not consistently, anyway.

Lewis Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this season, either in qualifying sessions or Grand Prix.

He is now significantly nearer than he was. He is consistently setting times within a few hundredths of a second of his teammate, but in qualifying battles it's 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This previous weekend in Texas, on one of Hamilton's preferred tracks, he was a second slower than Leclerc when the Monaco driver completed his pit stop, and lost thirteen seconds over the rest of the Grand Prix.

Looking back, Leclerc was on the best race strategy. Nevertheless, over the season, and even currently, it's difficult to argue that on average Charles Leclerc has not been the superior Ferrari driver this year.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have discussed how challenging it is to switch teams, and we have to accept their statements.

Lewis Hamilton would not say even currently that he was fully adapted to the Ferrari car - and he is hoping the new rules next season will benefit his driving style; he has never particularly liked these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to understand and adapt to when they switch teams, as Hamilton has described many times this season. But not all faces difficulties in this way.

Alonso, for example, was performing well from the beginning of the 2023 when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Max Verstappen face challenges if he changed constructors? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.

How Soon Can We Determine The Coming Season's Team Performance?

Before the F1 cars run for the first time in winter testing next year, no-one will know how the constructors are performing next year.

The initial session, in Catalunya on 26-30 January, is private because the teams preferred to get their heads around their initial track time of the power unit changes without the prying eyes of the media.

So the two tests in Sakhir on February 11-13 and 18-20 February will be the first time some kind of indication of relative performance becomes apparent.

But, as ever, it's not until the first race that the complete and precise picture will become clear.