McLaren boss Zak Brown has declared that the team would rather lose this year’s drivers’ championship than show favouritism towards one of their drivers’ world championship tilt.
Seven races into the Formula 1 season, McLaren leads the constructors’ championship by 132 points from Mercedes, while Australian Oscar Piastri tops the drivers’ standings with a 13-point advantage over teammate Lando Norris.
With four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen trailing in third position, McLaren has a real chance of claiming its first drivers’ crown since Lewis Hamilton’s maiden title in 2008.
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Lando Norris, Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri after the Chinese Grand Prix. Bryn Lennon/Formula 1 via Getty Images
But the team has been at odds with which of its drivers takes priority on and off the track, with Brown and team principal Andrea Stella struggling to manage the individual ambitions and self-interest of its two drivers.
In the seasons since Piastri replaced Daniel Ricciardo at the Woking-based squad, Norris has typically been the first to receive upgrades and benefit from strategy calls as the team’s title contender.
With McLaren’s preference to defend its constructors’ title, Brown believes a pragmatic approach will result in both drivers finishing at the pointy end of the standings.
“The best way to win the constructors’ is to finish first and second in the drivers’, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” he told PlanetF1.com.
“And then, the way to let the drivers decide who’s first and second is by treating them fully, fairly, transparently.
“So you’ll notice last race [Imola], Oscar went out first in Q3. The race before, Lando went out first in Q3.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri pose during the McLaren team photo following the running of the Chinese Grand Prix. Getty
“When upgrades come, if one gets it one weekend — because we can’t deliver both — then the other gets it the other weekend, and vice versa.”
Brown reiterated the team’s commitment to fairness, with both drivers to benefit from equivalent opportunities both on and off the track.
But by focusing its efforts on both drivers and allowing them to race freely, McLaren runs the risk of blowing the drivers’ championship.
“For us, it’s quite an easy thing to work through,” Brown said of offering like-for-like.
“Our drivers aren’t asking for favouritism, they’re asking for fairness, and that’s what they get.
“I think they’re very comfortable; may the best man win.
Oscar Piastri leads teammate McLaren Lando Norris and Max Verstappen during the Miami Grand Prix. Clive Rose via Getty Images
“Hopefully, we give them a car in an environment where you’re going into the last race and it’s the two of them competing, and they didn’t take points off each other to the point where they let Max [Verstappen] or someone else get in there.
“But if so, then whoever wins the drivers’ championship has done a better job.”
So, it appears McLaren will uphold fairness and equality in the hope that individual success for both its drivers lifts the team. Group success will come before individual results.
However, in sticking to this strategy, Brown is prepared to see neither of his drivers win the title battle rather than implement team orders.
“I’m comfortable with that because the other scenario is, how do you take a driver out of the championship that’s competing for the championship? That’s not right at all,” he said.
“If you had a second driver that wasn’t competing for the championship, then I get it; sacrifice [Yuki] Tsunoda’s qualifying because he’s giving Max a tow or whatever.
“I get compromising the second car at Red Bull because it’s not competing for the drivers’ championship, so it’s an easy decision to make.
“But when you’ve got two drivers first and second in the championship and are separated by less than one second-place finish, how do you possibly even consider standing one down into a supporting role?
“There’s just no way we will.”
Piastri previously stated that while the drivers’ championship is still up for grabs, he expects “equal opportunity and the same car as his teammate.
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