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McLaren ‘recognizes the consequences’ of equal driver approach

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says the team knows it could open itself up to being beaten by an outside threat in a closer title race by not favoring one driver over another, but accepts that as a risk worth taking.

Lando Norris emerged as a possible challenger to Max Verstappen during 2024 but McLaren did not start to back his championship hopes more than Oscar Piastri’s until the final third of the season, with Norris ultimately falling 63 points short. While that title chance was a long shot, this year McLaren has emerged as the favorite and Brown says last season showed the team would give its drivers equal opportunities for as long as possible, even if it might allow rivals to stay in touch in future.

“We have our belief system, and we just stick to it,” Brown said. “We stick to our belief system, we’re comfortable with how we go racing – we also know we don’t always get it right.

“We did have a lot of people last year [question it] but Oscar was never more than one race win away [from being in the fight]. So we are and always will be – and I think we always have been – a two-car team.

“We recognize the consequences of that. Could be 2007 – forget about the penalty, we got two drivers [Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton] that tied and lose to Kimi [Raikkonen] by a point. We could have won that drivers’ championship, but who do you pick? And then you run the risk of the guy you don’t pick, he’s out of here.

Having equal drivers cost McLaren in 2007 as Hamilton and Alonso took points off each other and allowed Raikkonen to squeak through for the title, but Brown feels the long-term benefits of the approach outweigh the risk. James Moy/Sutton Images

“Our drivers are treated equally, fairly. There’s nothing in their contract that gives one priority over the other, nor have they ever asked for that. They just want fair and equal treatment.

“So we know that benefits the team. They accept that. They’re cool with that, and we know the risk of that, if you’d like, from a driver point of view, is 2007. But I think the downside of favoring one or the other is one then wants to leave – which is exactly what happened at the end of ’07.

“You put the constructors’ [title] at risk [too]. You see other teams favor one, and that is beneficial to the drivers’ championship and detrimental to the constructors’. Both championships are equally important to us. So what’s more important? I think if you race fairly, equally, and you have two great drivers, then kind of the constructors will take care of itself.”

With just nine points separating championship leader Piastri and Norris in the standings after the latter won last time out in Hungary for McLaren’s 200th Grand Prix victory, Brown expects the McLaren pair to be able to maintain a positive relationship amid this year’s title fight given their personalities and the long-term contracts they have in place.

“I think fundamentally you have got two great, respectful guys, and I think their relationship today is the best it’s ever been,” Brown said. “So when you look at which way is the relationship going, it’s getting stronger every day.

“Like Montreal was a good thing from a relationship point of view. So even though the competition’s narrowing, the relationship’s getting stronger.

“It’s our culture and the drivers, and I think the combination of the two is why it’s so strong. They’re going to be racing against each other for a long time in the same team. So it’s important that relationship continues to grow because the relationship’s not just about this year, it bleeds into next year. And they’re going to be together for a long time.

“So I think that’s our greatest strength at McLaren – what’s producing the on-track results and the car – is the entire culture inside McLaren, the ways of working, which is set from the highest levels of the Crown Prince who loves McLaren, and it’s all about the people. I think that bleeds into the culture, and we’re all seeing the benefit of that.”