McLaren U-turn? Zak Brown grilled on latest Norris vs Piastri team orders hint
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been McLaren teammates since 2023
Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, has denied that the team is considering a U-turn on its stance over team orders with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
It comes after Brown left the door open to asking one driver to support the other as the title decider plays out at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
McLaren leaves door open to Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri team orders
Norris enters the F1 2025 season finale on course to become McLaren’s first drivers’ champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
The British driver holds a 12-point lead over Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver and reigning four-time world champion, with Piastri a further four points back in third.
McLaren has consistently opted against prioritising one driver over the course of this season, leading the team into a series of indecisive calls.
Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
The most recent example came at last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, where Piastri and Norris were the only drivers not to pit during an early safety car.
Piastri and Norris, who were running first and third at the time the safety car was deployed, eventually came home second and fourth as Verstappen took a seventh win of the season.
Brown declared recently that he would rather lose the drivers’ title to Verstappen than impose team orders on Norris and Piastri, reiterating McLaren’s commitment to providing both drivers with an equal opportunity.
Appearing in Friday’s FIA press conference in Abu Dhabi, the team boss initially doubled down on his stance – before indicating that McLaren might consider intervening “as the race plays out” to secure the drivers’ title.
Asked if he would still rather lose to Verstappen than turn to team orders, he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “Yes.
“In the sense of team orders, as long as both drivers have a chance to win the world championship – which they clearly do sitting here right now – then it’s business as usual. They’re free to race.
“Obviously, we’ll be practical and realistic that if, as the weekend develops, as the race develops, it becomes clear that one has a significantly better chance than another, then we’re a team that wants to win the drivers’ championship and we will race accordingly to do whatever we can to get whatever that driver is in front to try and win the race.
“Our team orders have been around given equal opportunity to win the championship.
“But as the race plays out, if it becomes clear that both can’t, then we’re going to do what’s in the best interest of the team and try and win the drivers’ championship.”
Put to him that his openness to prioritising one driver in Abu Dhabi can be considered a U-turn on McLaren’s policy, he replied: “I don’t think it’s a U-turn.
“We’re going to start the weekend like we have the other 23, which is going in, giving both drivers equal opportunity.
“I think, last year, once it became clear that Lando had the best chance to catch Max and Oscar was almost statistically out of it in Baku, we then asked Oscar to support Lando – and it ended up Lando supporting Oscar in that particular race and Oscar won the race.
“So we’re going to use common sense. We’re not going to throw away a driver championship over a sixth and seventh place, a third and a fourth place, a fifth and a sixth place.
“If one of our drivers doesn’t have the opportunity [we will ask him to support].
“I think everything we do, we do with the drivers, so they know what the gameplan is for this weekend.
“And outside of our racing team, you’re a bit damned if you do, damned if you don’t, and so we’re going to just stay true to our racing principles.
“We want to win the constructors’ [title], which we’ve done. We want to win the drivers’ and so we’ll see how the race plays out.”
More on McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from PlanetF1.com
Trailing Norris by 16 points with just 25 available in Abu Dhabi, Piastri as regarded as the clear outsider in the title race.
However, on the last two occasions that three drivers or more have entered the final race with a shot of the title, the driver starting the weekend third in the standings has gone on to clinch the title.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen famously overcame McLaren pair Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007, with Sebastian Vettel triumphing over Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber – the former Red Bull driver now acting as Piastri’s manager – in 2010.
Put to him that it makes sense for McLaren to prioritise Norris from the outset in Abu Dhabi given Piastri’s slim title hopes, Brown vowed to give the Australian every opportunity at Yas Marina.
He said: “You’ve got two drivers and I think we’ve seen many times over the years, three drivers coming into the final race – and the driver in third wins the championship.
“So, no, we’re going to wait and see how the race plays out.
“Sitting here right now, I view it as all three drivers have an equal opportunity to win the grand prix.
“So until that changes, we’re going to go racing as usual.”
Verstappen collected his seventh victory of the season in Qatar last weekend, putting him level with Norris and Piastri despite the dominance of the McLaren MCL39, which secured the constructors’ title at the Singapore Grand Prix in early October.
Asked if it will be considered failure if McLaren misses out on the drivers’ crown, Brown replied: “Clearly it will be a disappointment, but Max is not an easy four-time world champion to knock off his perch.
“He’s won seven races, so it’s not like he’s won two.
“He’s had equally as competitive as a racing season, so you’ve got three drivers fighting for the championship that have all had spectacular years.”
Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher
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