Zak Brown wants ‘best drivers in the world’ amid Verstappen-Piastri rumours

The Australian driver’s name has become a hot topic in recent weeks, despite Formula 1 still being some way off its usual summer silly season surrounding the driver market, with GPblog having reported several times that, in such a scenario, Piastri is seen as the most logical option should Max Verstappen truly decide to leave.

Speaking in an interview with The Athletic, Brown admitted that every team on the grid would likely love to have Piastri and Norris in their line-up. However, the McLaren CEO stressed that his main objective is to build an environment so strong and competitive that neither the drivers, nor the employees and sponsors, would feel any desire to move elsewhere. Brown also pointed out that both drivers are already under contract regardless.

“I would imagine there’s not a team on the grid that wouldn’t want to have Oscar and Lando driving for them. My general view, contracts aside, our job is to create an environment where our drivers don’t want to drive anywhere else, or for that matter, our employees or our sponsors don’t want to sponsor another team. My job - our job - is to create an environment where you go, ‘Well, you’ve got a contract.’ Yes, we have that anyways, for the record.”

Brown then went on to explain that simply tying people down with contracts is not enough, insisting the real objective is to create a team environment that drivers, mechanics and sponsors genuinely want to be part of. The McLaren CEO stressed that his ambition is to build a culture capable of making people choose McLaren naturally rather than feel obligated to stay, while also highlighting the amount of talent currently inside the team that rival outfits would likely love to attract.

Brown concluded by admitting that every top team naturally wants the strongest possible driver line-up. However, the McLaren CEO made it clear that he would not swap his current pairing for any other combination on the Formula 1 grid: “The first thing on your shopping list is the best drivers in the world. In all of our racing series, the number one goal is the best driver line-up that you can get. I wouldn’t trade ours for any other combination on the grid.”

Former Felipe Massa race engineer Rob Smedley has issued a warning to Piastri over the prospect of leaving McLaren for Red Bull amid speculation surrounding the Australian’s future. Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Smedley reflected on how drivers can sometimes be tempted to leave a top team when faced with a difficult comparison against a team-mate.

Drawing on examples from his own time at Ferrari, he explained that some drivers choose to move elsewhere in the hope of becoming the clear number one within a different environment, even if that team is less competitive overall. However, Smedley questioned whether such a decision truly pays off in the long term. In his view, leaving a front-running team that is capable of fighting for championships simply to escape internal pressure often ends up backfiring, with drivers ultimately finding themselves in a less competitive position and no happier than before.