McLaren bosses respond to ‘overmanaging’ claims in Norris and Piastri title battle

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has said the team is ignoring any suggestions they are ‘overmanaging’ their drivers this season, with their commitment to equal treatment having been questioned at different times.

Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri by one point in the Drivers’ standings heading into the Sao Paulo GP weekend, but the threat of a resurgent Max Verstappen has grown in recent races, closing a 104-point gap to the top to 36 points heading into the final four races of the season.

McLaren to ‘ignore’ outside concerns with ‘two sons’ Norris and Piastri

McLaren has taken a ‘let them race’ approach in the vast majority of situations this season, but questions were asked when Piastri was instructed to cede position back to Norris at Monza after a slow pit stop for the Briton put him out behind his teammate.

When the Briton passed Piastri on the first lap in Singapore, too, slight contact in the too-close-for-comfort nature of the overtake led to internal ‘repercussions’, understood to be giving Piastri on-track priority in qualifying at the next round in Austin.

Both drivers have maintained both their understanding of and commitment to working within the team’s rules, but understand the risk of potentially ultimately losing out to Verstappen, despite the gap the Red Bull driver still needs to make up.

While the likes of Williams’ Alex Albon has said, despite the team’s approach being fair to its drivers, McLaren could “easily” cover Verstappen’s charge by prioritising one driver, while former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez claimed the team has been “messing around” while the reigning World Champion climbs back toward the summit.

Asked outright how he reacts to people saying the team is ‘overmanaging’ the situation between its drivers, Brown told the Beyond the Grid podcast: “Ignore them.

“We are so focused on ourselves and doing the right thing and the commitment we’ve made to the racing team, our sponsor partners, our shareholders and our fans, but not everyone can be as informed as we are.

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“I think the reason why you see such a great relationship between Lando and Oscar is they know they have equal opportunity to win the world championship – and we’re transparent, we’re fair, we communicate.

“We’re not perfect, but we’re racers, and they know that. So there’s all this noise around, but we don’t let that noise come inside the MTC [McLaren Technology Centre].”

Norris came through McLaren’s ranks after signing as a teenager, before making his debut with the team seven seasons ago.

With Piastri having signed from his role as Alpine reserve ahead of 2023, and with both on long-term contracts, theirs is one of the more stable line-ups in Formula 1.

But given Norris’ longer-term status with the team, unfounded conspiracy theories had been raised as to whether the Briton had been given preferential treatment, which the team has repeatedly denied, with team principal Andrea Stella using a familial metaphor to explain why.

Asked if Norris’ long-term loyalty to McLaren, compared to Piastri being in his third year at the team, had created a subconscious ’emotional bias’ within the team, Stella responded: “The same kind of commitment to the team, the same sort of all-in [mentality] to the team, full support to the team, it did come from Oscar as well.

“When you are in my role, it’s like when you have two sons, and somebody says, ‘which one is your preferred son?’ Yeah, but they are my two sons! How can you say which one is the preferred one?

“So, sometimes, when I hear or read some comments of this kind, I find them really very superficial, and I think that sometimes, people don’t really understand what it means to have two drivers that are with you together in this journey in Formula 1, so I just feel very grateful to both, in fairness.”

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