Zak Brown: Max Verstappen still a major threat as papaya rules still in play

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has confirmed that the team is not going to change its strategy in the drivers’ championship after securing the constructors’ title. 

After third and fourth-place finishes at the Singapore Grand Prix, the Woking outfit took the victory in the constructors’ championship with six race weekends remaining in the season. This led some to question whether McLaren would alter its management style of drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who are both fighting for their first drivers’ championship victory.

McLaren has so far chosen not to back one driver for the title but has instead allowed them both to race freely under ‘papaya rules’, with the proviso that they keep on-track battles clean.

Apart from the Canadian Grand Prix, where Norris crashed out during an intense battle with his team-mate, the drivers have managed to keep it relatively clean. But after a lunge from Norris to take third from Piastri in Singapore, tensions could well be rising.

Following questions about whether the Brown-led team would now back one driver for the drivers’ title, Brown has confirmed that the team is not going to change its strategy despite the threat of four-time champion Max Verstappen.

“While we’d like it to solely come down to our two guys, Max is still very much in the game. I think what has been key is that the team have remained so focused but also very humble,” Brown explained to McLaren.

“So, we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing. Our strategy isn’t going to change because we’ve won the Constructors’, we’re going to approach the remaining race weekends in the same way we’ve approached every one before it.”

He added: “That’s what we’re here to do: win races and win Championships. And we couldn’t be hungrier.”

Heading into the final quarter of the season, Piastri leads the standings with 336 points, with a 22-point lead over Norris. Verstappen follows Norris in third with 273 points – 41 points behind the British driver and 63 points behind the championship leader.

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– The Motorsport.com Team