F1 News
Brown takes dig at Verstappen: 'Some drivers run you four wheels off'
The 2024 F1 season, despite being the most successful for Lando Norris, has not been the least stressful. Though he did have the quickest car across the amjorit of tracks since the Miami Grand Prix, he did not manage to string consistent performances across the entire season, particularly due to his intense rivalry with Max Verstappen. Zak Brown, McLaren's CEO sheds light on how he helped his driver mentally and also has a few pointers for Norris in his future fights against the Dutchman.
Throughout the majority of the F1 season it was Norris, not Verstappen who had the fastest, most consistent car across all tracks. However, much to the Briton's dismay, it was the Dutchman who finally prevailed in the World Championship fight.
Brown joked with Norris to "get the anxiety out of the room"
"I think drivers and race teams, naturally, are very good at getting over disappointment quickly. Just give them a little bit of space. You don't really need to do anything in my opinion. At least with our drivers."
"I like to use humor, always put a little bit of a smile on the driver's face. Cracking the odd joke, or being a bit sarcastic, just take a little bit of the anxiety out of the room, or the tension, or whatever the case may be. But I've found, just kidn of don't work too hard to try and get them out of the mood their in, because on Sunday night, it's an emotional sport, come Tuesday, Wednesday when they need to be back in race mode, they unwound and are ready to go. They're used to kind of crashing cars and having to get ready for the next session," the McLaren Racing CEO added.
"If a driver runs you four wheels off, you put them four wheels off"
There was one driver in particular who never gave Norris an extra inch of space, Verstappen, and this lead to on the limit, and some over the limit, moments both on and off the track. But Brown is of the "race them how they race you" idea, so he next seemed to be offering Norris some pointers on how to beat the Dutchman. "You gotta race drivers the way they race you. And there are some drivers that are easy to pass, there are some drivers that are hard to pass, there are some drivers that'll run you two wheels off, and then there's drivers that'll run you four wheels off, which is not cool. But sometimes the only way to race another driver that runs you four wheels off, is to put them four wheels off. You kind of have to race them, how they race you," Brown concluded.
This article was made with the help of Jeroen Immink
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