Max Verstappen celebrating - Photo: Race Pictures

McLaren CEO labels Verstappen a “disruptor” in title hunt

17:12, 28 Sep

Updated: 17:58, 28 Sep

bySamson Ero

Zak Brown has weighed in on the Formula 1 title fight ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. The McLaren CEO admitted Max Verstappen cannot be ignored as the championship battle heats up.

“You've got to pay attention to Max.”

- Zak Brown

The 53-year-old, who spoke in an interview with Bloomberg, labelled Verstappen a disruptor for the McLaren team in the drivers’ title fight. Brown also hinted at his side's approach to the championship battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

“A disruptor, you've got to pay attention to Max. We've got to keep doing what we're doing. The Constructors' is looking very good. We had a chance to wrap it up in Baku, but let's not talk about Baku. Hopefully, we can get the job done in Singapore.“

“And what we want to do is we want our two drivers, and Max, but we'd like to kind of get him out of there. To fight for the championship and just give them equal opportunity, equal equipment, which is what we're doing, and kind of may the best man win.”

zak-brown during the Chinese Grand Prix - Photo: Race Pictures

“That's what we want to do. We'd like to not play a role, if at all possible. But you get into [it], Lando had a mechanical, and things can happen, and safety cars, and things of that nature. But I think our goal is to just set Lando and Oscar up to be competing for the championship, down to Abu Dhabi, and may the best driver win.”

The 2025 Formula 1 drivers' championship witnessed Verstappen close the gap to both Piastri and Norris with his victories at both Monza and Baku. The Red Bull Racing driver is now 69 points off the leader, Piastri, with seven Grands Prix and three Sprints left on the 2025 calendar.

Stella doubles down on Verstappen’s title fight

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella earlier reiterated that Max Verstappen is back in the championship fight. The Italian motorsports executive stressed the Red Bull Racing driver was a serious contender for the title.

Stella detailed that he believes the Red Bull team have found a fix to their car problems.

He concluded: "So we will see now in Singapore, which should be more of a one in which we should perform well. Hopefully we can go back to fighting for victories and then we will see how the rest of the championship will unfold."

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