F1 Q&A: McLaren, Verstappen in title race plus Hamilton and Sainz

It seems to me that both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have now proven themselves to be the equal of their team-mates in their first season at their teams. Do you think we downplay how difficult it is to switch teams? – Gareth

First of all, I’m not sure the question has an entirely accurate premise. It’s true that both Hamilton and Sainz had slightly sticky first halves of the season, in different ways, and that they are now faring much better.

Sainz and Alex Albon do now look very even. However, it’s not so clear that, in Hamilton’s case, he is yet the “equal” of Leclerc – or not consistently, anyway.

Hamilton has not beaten Leclerc very often at all this year, either in qualifying or race.

He is now much closer than he was. He is regularly qualifying within a few hundredths of a second of Leclerc, but in qualifying it’s 4-2 to Leclerc since the summer break.

This last weekend in Austin, on one of Hamilton’s favourite circuits, he was a second behind Leclerc when the Monegasque made his pit stop, and lost 13 seconds over the rest of the race.

In hindsight, Leclerc was on the best strategy. Regardless, over the season, and even now, it’s hard to argue that on balance Leclerc has not been the better Ferrari driver this year.

Both Hamilton and Sainz have talked about how difficult it is to switch teams, and we have to take them at their word.

Hamilton would not say even now that he was fully adapted to Ferrari – and he is hoping the new rules next year will suit him; he has never really enjoyed these venturi cars.

There is a lot for a driver to get their head around when they switch teams, as Hamilton has explained many times this year. But not all struggle in this way.

Alonso, for example, was on it from the start of the 2023 season when he moved to Aston Martin. And would Verstappen struggle if he switched teams? I suspect most in F1 would expect not.