Zak Brown has claimed that he would rather see a repeat of McLaren’s 2007 World Championship heartbreak than choose to prioritise one of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the remaining four races of the 2025 campaign.
Heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix, Norris leads Piastri by one point after outscoring his team-mate in each of the last five race weekends. However, both McLaren drivers have Max Verstappen for company, with the four-time world champion only 36 points behind top spot after a six-race podium streak.
Despite the looming threat of the Dutchman, Brown and team principal Andrea Stella refuse to name a number one driver. This has triggered fears of a 2007 repeat, when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s battles allowed Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to sneak in and snatch the Drivers’ Championship title.
According to Brown, however, that would be preferable to picking a horse to back for the remaining Grand Prix events in 2025. “We’re well aware of 2007,” the McLaren Racing CEO declared on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“I’d rather go, ‘We did the best we can, and our drivers tied on points and the other guy beat us by one’ than the alternative. Which is telling one of our drivers right now, when they’re one point away from each other, ‘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. The best way to win the constructors is to finish first and second in the [Drivers’] Championship, and the best way to win the Drivers’ Championship is to have two drivers going for the Drivers’ Championship.
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“In the event 2007 happens again, I’d rather have that outcome than all the other outcomes by playing favourites. We won’t do it. We’re racers. We’re going racing.”
While Verstappen remains a factor in the title fight, Norris’ dominant Mexican Grand Prix win was a wake-up call for the 28-year-old. Red Bull’s reigning world champion still has plenty of opportunities to close the gap with four Grands Prix and two sprints remaining, but the margin for error is now minuscule.
“It’s clear that we had a good run,” he said after the most recent race in Mexico City. “I’ve definitely been enjoying it a lot more like that, and of course, we will try to carry that momentum forward.
“At the same time, we know that we need to be perfect until the end to have a chance, but that’s fine. We just try to enjoy it, try to do the best we can, and maximise it. At the end, we will see where we end up.”
