McLaren CEO Zak Brown recognises Verstappen is putting Norris at risk
Lando Norris at the Circuit of the Americas - Photo: Race Pictures
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has declared the team may indeed choose to enforce team orders between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to protect the Drivers' Championship from Max Verstappen's comeback charge.
If we get to a situation—and that’s what we did last year in Baku—to start helping Lando, then what ends up happening is Oscar goes and wins the race and Lando helps him.- Zak Brown
The Red Bull Racing driver has taken 41 points from the Aussie's lead in the Drivers' Standings in the past three Grands Prix, making him a distant yet very much present wild card in the title fight. However, Brown refuses to jump to any rashed decision.
He said: "Well, I think we’re one race at a time. I’ve been asked a lot to predict the future. I think where we’re sitting right now is Max is too close for comfort. Lando is one win, Oscar one DNF away.
"We saw what happened in Holland [Norris' DNF]—how quickly things can change. So we're just focused on this weekend, which is trying to get our drivers to finish first and second in the race, and we'll continue to evaluate on a race-by-race basis."
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Max Verstappen sitting in the RB21 - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Nevertheless, the American does admit that should the team find themselves in a situation where they're obligated to throw in their support for Piastri, they won't hesitate to put Norris in a #2 driver role. However, he does clarify, they're not at that point yet.
He continued: "If we get to a situation—and that’s what we did last year in Baku—to start helping Lando, then what ends up happening is Oscar goes and wins the race and Lando helps him. So this is a pretty unpredictable sport.
"But where we sit right now, we're going to give both drivers equal opportunity to try and win the Drivers' Championship," Brown concluded.
McLaren's repercussions for Norris
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After their lap 1 tangle in Singapore, McLaren drivers revealed in Austin that the team had changed their original view of the incident and have placed responsibility on Norris for the contact that occurred between the two.
The British McLaren driver, as well as the team's higher ups, also mentioned sporting repercussions would be in order for Norris, without providing much detail into the form said repercussions would take.
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