‘Forget it’ – Brown would rather Verstappen win title than pick favourite out of Norris and Piastri

McLaren boss Zak Brown has stated that he would rather see Red Bull driver Max Verstappen win the 2025 Drivers’ Championship title than prioritise either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri.

Norris and Piastri arrive at this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix separated by just one point, while Verstappen has cut his deficit to the top of the standings to 36 points – with four races and two Sprints still to come.

Amid questions over whether McLaren should adopt a number one driver to stave off the threat posed by Verstappen, who is putting on a comeback charge similar to that seen from Kimi Raikkonen back in 2007, Brown made his intra-team stance clear.

“If Max is the champion at the end of the year, for us the important thing is that we can say we have done our best and we have done our best according to the way we go racing,” he told the Beyond The Grid podcast.

“If Max wins this year, we say, ‘We’re going to win next year, we’re going to be there, and we are going to be there united as we are’.”

On the prospect of Verstappen ultimately pulling off such a comeback and beating the McLaren duo to the title, Brown said: “I shake his hand and say, ‘Job well done’.

“I want to make sure if we don’t win, he beats us, we don’t beat ourselves – that’s important. And we’re well aware of 2007, two drivers tied on points, one gets in front. But you know, we’ve got two drivers who want to win the World Championship. We’re playing offence, we’re not playing defence.

“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 championship, and the best way to win the Drivers’ Championship is to have two drivers going for the Drivers’ Championship.

“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.”