McLaren CEO Zak Brown has made an interesting claim about Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’ pursuit of the F1 title just days before the Brazilian Grand Prix.
With just four races left in the F1 calendar – in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi – the race for the championship is well and truly on.
McLaren’s Norris leads the standings and is just one point ahead of his teammate Piastri, who previously held a 34-point lead on the Englishman following the Dutch Grand Prix back in August.
Meanwhile, four-time and reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen will, no doubt, be licking his lips at the prospect of a fifth successive crown as he, too, is well in the race for the title, currently 36 points behind Norris.
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The Dutchman would have to return near-perfect performances in the two Sprint Races and four Grand Prix contests, as well as hope the McLaren duo slips up along the way.
But without Verstappen’s involvement, the race for the title is mouthwatering mainly because McLaren has appeared not to favour either driver, despite some suggesting that this could allow the Red Bull man to take advantage.
Piastri and Norris competing for points could damage both their chance of securing the title and risk a repeat of the 2007 F1 season when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen beat then-McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
And despite ‘Papaya’ missing out on the title back then, current CEO Brown believes that sticking to his team's philosophy and principles is more important than the result of the championship.
Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, the 53-year-old explained that if Verstappen pipped Piastri and Norris to the title that he’d “shake his hand and say well done” before maintaining that he’d rather Verstappen beat McLaren than McLaren beat themselves.
“We’re well aware of 2007,” Brown said.
“Two drivers tie on points, one gets in the front. But you know, we’ve got two drivers who want to win the world championship. We’re playing offense. We’re not playing defence.
“And I’d rather go, we did the best we can on our drivers tied in points and the other beat us by one, than the alternative which is telling one of our drivers right now, when they’re one point away from each other, I know you have a dream to win the world championship but we flipped the coin and you don’t get to do it this year. Forget it.
“That’s not how we go racing. In the event that 2007 happens again, I’d rather have that outcome than all the other outcomes by playing favourites. We won’t do it.”
Practice 1 ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend gets underway on Friday, before Sprint Qualifying later in the day.
Then, on Saturday, the Sprint Race will be followed by Qualifying before the Grand Prix takes place on Sunday evening.
Topics: Formula 1, McLaren, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen
Luke Davies