McLaren ready to accept defeat if Verstappen wins 2025 title!
After acknowledging Max Verstappen’s chances to snatch the Driver’s crown away from Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, McLaren higher-ups Andrea Stella and Zak Brown have said what they would do should that scenario eventually play out.
“I want to make sure if we don’t win, he beats us, we don’t beat ourselves. That’s important.”- Zak Brown.
In five race weekends Verstappen has slashed the McLaren drivers’ lead in the championship standings down to 36 points, from a 104 points deficit, setting himself up for what would be the biggest upset in the sport’s history.
Having previously admitted the reigning world champion is very much a protagonist in the fight for the 2025 Drivers’ title, Stella and Brown have answered the Beyond the Grid podcast host Tom Clarkson’s question as to what would be McLaren’s course of action should Verstappen win the title.
Stella said: “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.
“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.”
For Brown it was more a matter of the style of the loss more than the defeat itself. He added: “I’d 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.”
Acknowledging that a potential 2007 scenario could play out in the McLaren garage, where then McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, following a fierce internal rivalry, lost the championship to Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen by one point in the last race of the season, at Brazil of all places, Brown argued that they would not change their philosophy out of respect for Norris’ and Piastri’s title dream.
He continued: “And we’re well aware of 2007, two drivers tie on points, one [Raikkonen] gets in the front. But, 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 in 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.
“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,” Brown concluded.
Schumacher thinks Piastri could wind up at Aston Martin
Ralf Schumacher says Oscar Piastri could consider leaving McLaren if trust has broken down, calling it a clear sign for consequences.
The former F1 driver suggests Aston Martin as a strong option, claiming the team is currently window-shopping for a new driver, whilst also nominating Charles Leclerc as another potential target. Read Schumacher's full statements here.
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