Zak Brown mentioned that McLaren will evaluate during the summer whether to prioritize Lando Norris’ chance at the F1 drivers’ championship.
This decision follows McLaren’s directive for Norris to let his teammate pass during the Hungarian Grand Prix, which frustrated Norris, especially after he had outperformed Oscar Piastri during the last pit stops.
Piastri’s win, along with Norris finishing second, resulted in Norris missing out on seven additional points that could have reduced Max Verstappen’s championship lead to 69 points.
Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, indicated that he will consult with team principal Andrea Stella during the mandated summer break about potentially supporting Norris in the latter part of the season.
“That’s ultimately going to be Andrea’s call,” he told Sky Sports. “We want to get through the first half of the season and see where we stand after this weekend.”
“I believe the constructors’ championship is still within our grasp, though it won’t be easy.”
“On the drivers’ side, the difficulty lies in the fact that a ‘bad’ day for Max is finishing second or third. So, it’s challenging to close the gap as we have in the constructors’ standings, particularly since Sergio Perez is experiencing difficulties, though we know he can bounce back at any time.”
“This will be a topic for discussion during the summer hiatus.”
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 2nd position, Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, and the McLaren trophy delegate with the trophies on the podium
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Notably, Brown was absent from the race in Hungary and expressed confidence that Norris would relinquish his position to Piastri, despite the urgent requests from Norris’s race engineer in the closing laps.
Brown elaborated, “I know Lando very well, so I was confident he would give way. We might have waited a bit too long for the switch, as they were free to race. Had he made the move sooner, there would have been 21 laps left to race.”
“Part of me was actually relieved that they didn’t race hard, or I would have spent those laps quite nervous!”
“In the end, everything turned out well. There are learning points for us, particularly regarding communication moving forward. But it all worked out in the end.”
