McLaren wary of ‘nerve-wracking’ driver dilemma

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has detailed the challenge he is expecting in 2025 when it comes to managing both of his drivers.

Lando Norris will enter his seventh F1 season and fresh off the back of finishing runner-up in the drivers’ championship to Max Verstappen in 2024.

Oscar Piastri will partake in his third campaign as he continues his attempts to prove his worth at the front of the F1 field.

The duo drove McLaren to its first constructors’ championship in 26 years at the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi earlier this month as it fended off a late challenge from Ferrari.

As they gear up to have their own personal glory next year, Brown highlighted confidence the pair will remain fair to each other on the track.

“Only one of them can finish first in any weekend,” he told Sky F1.

“They’re great team-mates, they’re great team players – I think we saw that come through again in Qatar when we told Lando ‘you don’t need to swap positions’, and he insisted ‘I owe my team-mate one’.

“So those are the type of team-mates they are. Of course, come showtime they both want to win, but they race each other cleanly.”

The new season will be the last under the current set of technical regulations before a switch-up for the 2024 campaign.

With the cars set to undergo few changes and the pecking order at the front of the grid being a close affair this year, the title fight could be one of the closest in many years.

Should both McLaren drivers be at the forefront of the action, Brown voiced his confidence it will be able to manage its drivers – but accepted it will be a nervous situation if both if its drivers are in contention.

“I’m sure it will be a challenge at times, but we’ll just take it one race at a time,” he said. “What we do is treat everyone fairly, equally, transparently, so there are no surprises.

“So, we’ll just see how the season unfolds and hopefully we have the challenge of two drivers fighting for the same drivers’ championship at the last race of the year.

“I’m sure that will be nerve-wracking, but they race each other cleanly. I think that’s what’s most important, they race each other hard. And they want to win on track, they don’t want to be gifted anything.”