Zak Brown says McLaren is likely to sit down with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to understand how the drivers want the team to handle the outcome of their championship battle.
Piastri leads Norris by just nine points during the mid-season break, with second-placed Norris 88 points clear of Max Verstappen in third with 10 races to go. Brown acknowledges it is likely that one of the two McLaren drivers will take the title, and says the team plans on discussing how that scenario is dealt with given that one driver will miss out.
“It’s interesting, because in Silverstone, obviously we were extremely happy for Lando and disappointed for Oscar,” Brown said. “So we haven’t had that conversation, because the championship’s a long way away, but eventually you will get into a situation where I think you should actually sit down with the drivers.
“If we’re in a situation where it comes down to the two of them – and I say ‘if’ because we still think others are in the championship – I hope after a few more races, I can just say with more confidence it looks like it’s going to be our two guys. We’re not naive to think we’re looking pretty good. We’ll just sit down and actually have a conversation and go, ‘Right, one of you is going to win. It’s going to be the best day of your life. One of you is going to lose. How do you want us to handle that?’
“We’ll actually sit down and go, ‘Do you want us to jump up and down and celebrate that this guy won?’ So we’re fully aware and sensitive to how do you celebrate that situation? And I think we’ll just sit down with the drivers and come to an agreement. ‘One of you is not going to be the champion, how do you want us to act?’
“That’s the way we think. It comes back to thinking about our people. Silverstone was the same thing. I got to just break some ice with Oscar. Clearly he was upset, [which was] understandable. And I tend to get – which is going to surprise all of you – some stuff on social media from fans.
“It was like when we were 17th and 18th, I was getting harassed. We were first and second (at Silverstone) and I’m still getting harassed by the different fan bases!
“I got one note in particular, which was pretty off the charts. And so I’m walking with Oscar to the fan zone. And I was like, ‘Dude, you didn’t have to send me this note’. Because it was a pretty aggressive note from an Oscar fan. And I got a giggle out of him. And I was like, all right, good, we’re just starting to kind of break the ice.
“I also think having once been a driver, I understand really well that Oscar’s going to be upset. So just give him a bit of space. I’m a believer in dealing with stuff in the moment, if you can fix it in the moment. Or if it’s something that you can’t fix in the moment, maybe you need to just let it all cool down and deal with it on Monday or Tuesday.
“Whether it’s something’s happened with the driver or a strategy. And I think over the years, you’ve seen, whether it’s James Hunt punching a marshal… can’t do anything about it now, so maybe let’s just let everyone take the temperature down.
“I always try and break the ice, kind of goof around a little bit with the drivers. So when I got the chuckle out of Oscar, I was like, all right, good, we’re in the calming-down phase. It’s like driving a turbo race car. You come in, you don’t turn the engine off right away, let the turbos cool down a little bit. And I think that’s understanding the people here.
“But I have thought about the ‘How do you deal with the winner and the loser?’, if you’d like. And that’ll just be a conversation we have with the drivers and go, ‘How would you like us to conduct ourselves?’ Because we’ll be very considerate about that approach.”
Given how close the two are in the standings at present, Brown believes the title race could be decided by factors outside of the drivers’ control, as he believes their performance levels are almost identical.
“I think it’s going to come down to execution, because it’s clear from a pace point of view that there’s nothing in it,” he said.
“So I think it’s going to come down to consistency of execution, or it could come down to luck of the draw. Weather, safety, one guy gets wiped out by someone else on the track, because they seem to be pretty equal.”