McLaren chief executive Zak Brown says the team would rather lose the Drivers’ Championship to Max Verstappen than back Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri in the title fight.
McLaren have been clear all year that their drivers are free to race but the closeness of Norris and Piastri mean they have taken points off each other, with Verstappen closing a 104-point deficit to 36 points with four rounds to go
Norris is one point ahead of Piastri ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix and both drivers are going for their first world championship.
But, Brown referenced the 2007 F1 season when McLaren pair Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso narrowly lost out to Kimi Raikkonen in the Drivers’ Championship, with the team not backing one driver.
He said on the Beyond the Grid podcast: “We’re well aware of 2007. Two drivers tied on points, one gets in the front. But we’ve got two drivers who want to win the world championship. We’re playing offence; we’re not playing defence.
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Lando Norris discusses his Mexico City GP win, as he takes the F1 title lead off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. He also discusses Red Bull’s fighting chances at winning the World Championship
“I’d rather go – ‘we did the best we could with our drivers tied in points, and the other beat us by one,’ than the alternative – telling one of our drivers right now, when they’re one point apart, ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship, but we flipped a coin and you don’t get to do it this year.’ Forget it!
“That’s not how we go racing. If 2007 happens again, I’d rather have that outcome than any other that involves playing favourites – we won’t do it.”
What happened in 2007?
The 2007 season was one of the most dramatic in F1 history with Hamilton in his rookie season surprisingly matching two-time world champion and McLaren team-mate Alonso.
Although both drivers did not collide, the team became divided and Alonso fell out with team boss Ron Dennis, with off-track matters such as Spygate – when McLaren employees gained information on the Ferrari car – causing further tension.
Alonso would have expected to have the better of Hamilton but the British driver’s run of nine straight podiums to start the season gave him the lead of the championship.
Going into the last two rounds, Hamilton had a 12-point lead over Alonso and 17-point advantage over Raikkonen. The points system was different those days with only 10 points for a victory.
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Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz rides along with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in a hot lap around Monza
However, Hamilton retired at the penultimate race in China after beaching his car in the pit entry gravel trap as Raikkonen took the win.
Nevertheless, Hamilton only needed to finish in the top five if Raikkonen won the race. A poor start from Hamilton left him susceptible to team-mate Alonso and the pair raced hard on the opening lap, with Hamilton dropping to eighth.
He was making his way back through the field until a gearbox issue cost him over half a minute and he could only recover to seventh.
Raikkonen won the race with Alonso only third, so the Finn became world champion and neither McLaren won the title.
Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime