Zak Brown declares: 'We are racing with two number one drivers'
F1 News
Formula 1 has seen countless infamous inter-team rivalries in its time. Senna and Prost, Webber and Vettel and Hamilton and Rosberg are just a few examples that immediately spring to mind. What do all of these have in common? These rivalries tended to unsettle their respective teams, which led to the pair splitting up. McLaren CEO Zak Brown, however, is adamant that having two 'number-one' drivers in Norris and Piastri will work for the Woking-based outfit.
McLaren's last infamous inter-team rivalry was between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007. Their squabbling meant that Kimi Raikkonen stole the title for Ferrari, as Alonso eventually left the team at the end of the season, heading back to Renault. In conversation with Autosport, Brown remains assured that history won't be repeated between his two-star drivers.
"Relationships, communication, and the two individuals that we have. I mean, make no mistake about it. They both want to be number one and they are both number ones. We just don't have any number twos. But they race for the team. They're the types of individuals I think can race each other hard and be number one in their own mind and respect the fact that we run two number-one cars. And we always have and always will," the American began.
Brown: 'Both are very respectful of our decisions'
Things could surely get uncomfortable for McLaren in the future. Cast your mind back to Hungary, when an unsure Norris let his teammate through to win the race in the last few laps. Both secured their first Formula 1 victory in the first half of the 2024 Formula 1 season (Norris won the Miami Grand Prix), and their highly capable MCL38 is sure to put McLaren in more precarious positions where a team orders decision may be needed in order to secure victory.
"Obviously, if you get later into the championship and one driver has more of a shot than another, then you might start looking at things that you do strategically differently," Brown admitted. "But we treat them equally. They know that, they enjoy that, and they respect our decisions when we sometimes need to make some concessions. They're very respectful of that. So I think we're fortunate and lucky to have the two individuals that we have," McLaren's CEO affirmed. "It's a great garage environment." He concluded.
Norris and Piastri have avoided issues up to this point of the 2024 season, but will the papaya pair butt heads throughout the rest of this year? Time will tell.