McLaren boss Zak Brown concedes their internal battles could sabotage shot at driver’s title

While Piastri (1st) and Norris (2nd) are still in the box seat to claim the drivers’ crown with six races left this season, the margin for error is rapidly closing because both McLaren drivers are being hotly pursued by four-times world champion Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman has won two of the last three races in his Red Bull to rocket back into title contention and qualified on pole position for the sprint race at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

His surge up the standings is being given a huge boost by the two McLaren drivers taking points away from each other because of the team’s refusal to prioritise Piastri as the sole No.1 driver.

Even though the Australian F1 ace holds a 22-point lead over Norris, and a 63-point advantage over Verstappen, Brown insists McLaren will continue to give both of their drivers the same opportunity.

“It’s still business as usual,” he said. “We’ve been racing everyone hard and our two drivers have been racing each other hard since Australia.”

McLaren clinched the constructors’ title at the last race in Singapore two weeks ago but the team’s success was overshadowed by Norris sideswiping Piastri on the first lap to get past him.

Norris went on to finish third, one place ahead of Piastri, to trim the Australian’s lead to 22 points, but had he been told to give the spot back to Piastri, the lead would have been 28 with Verstappen 66 in arrears.

McLaren has since told Norris he was at fault for the incident and would have to suffer some repercussions but won’t say what they are.

“We don’t want to get into that. I think it’s private business between us,” Brown said.

“I know everyone’s interested to know, but both drivers are in a great place. We just want to set them up to continue to be able to race each other hard.

“We’re racing against nine other teams. I don’t think you want to necessarily show your hand on how you go motor racing.

“We try to be as transparent as possible but there’s a reason why engineering debriefs are only with teams, otherwise you start inviting other teams in.

“At the end of the day, we’re in a sporting event, and we can’t necessarily tell everyone everything.”

The only hint Brown did give away was to confirm the punishment handed down to Norris would not be severe and would be in accordance with the team’s agreed principles.

“The ‘Papaya Rules’, which everyone likes to talk about, is pretty much one rule, which is don’t touch each other. And don’t run each other off the track,” he said.

“We agreed with them in the off-season, how we would handle certain situations.

“It was a pretty minor incident, start of a Grand Prix, it’s pretty chaotic, it was a damp track, so this clearly wasn’t intentional.

“It was a pretty minor situation, so it’s a pretty minor consequence.”

What that means to Piastri’s fans is that Norris won’t be ordered to move aside for his teammate in the remaining races.

Piastri has said he’s happy that both McLaren drivers will continue to compete on equal terms for the title, but there is still a real danger it could end up costing them both by playing into Verstappen’s hands.

A ferocious competitor behind the wheel, Verstappen chalked up his fourth drivers’ championship last year even though McLaren won the constructors’ title.

And that wasn’t the first time McLaren lost out on providing the individual champion because it couldn’t decide which horse to back.

In 2007, McLaren won the team championship but their two drivers – Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – both finished one point behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers’ title.

Brown said McLaren was fully aware that the same things could happen this year but the team was determined to stick with its policy, at least for now.

“That’s the risk, right?” Brown said. “But that’s how McLaren wants to go racing.

“We want to have two drivers that are capable of winning the championship.

“It’s a difficult sport. We’re racers. We want to go racing and we want both drivers to have a chance to win the championship. And that comes with some risk, like 2007.

“We’re all aware of that and prepared that that could potentially be an outcome.”

But that doesn’t mean McLaren won’t change its mind and prioritise Piastri later on. That would only likely happen if Norris was completely out of contention.

Last year, Piastri agreed to help Norris try to chase down Verstappen once his own title hopes had evaporated although it proved futile.

More Coverage

‘A messy lap’: Piastri lucky to secure second row sprint start

Julian Linden

Piastri shuts down McLaren bias claims but Max isn’t so sure

Julian Linden

“Max is very much in the game, so it would be a big mistake to think Max wasn’t part of the drivers’ championship right now,” Brown said.

“Where we’re sitting right now, Max is too close for comfort. Lando is one win (behind Piastri). Oscar is one DNF away (from losing the lead) ... and things can change quickly.

“This is a pretty unpredictable sport but where we sit right now, we’re gonna get both drivers equal opportunity to try to win the drivers’ championship.”