McLaren prepared to ‘risk’ 2007-style F1 title loss repeat

McLaren have admitted they are prepared to take the “risk” of repeating the team’s infamous 2007 title loss by continuing to give both drivers parity.

Teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are separated by 22 points with 174 points still up for grabs across the remaining six grands prix and three sprint races.

Recent Red Bull resurgence has brought Max Verstappen back into the championship conversation, having closed the gap on both McLaren drivers in the past three events.

Verstappen was 104-points behind leader Piastri just four races ago, but has reduced the gap down to 63 points with back-to-back wins in Italy and Azerbaijan, before beating the McLaren duo again in Singapore.

The situation has drawn similarities to McLaren’s title capitulation in 2007 when Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s intra-team squabble enabled Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to snatch the drivers’ crown at the final round.

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says his side are happy to risk that outcome once again as they continue to let Piastri and Norris fight it out without interference.

“That’s the risk, right? If you have two drivers like in 2007, where they equalled in points and Kimi barely beat them,” Brown said.

“But that’s how McLaren want to go racing. We want to have two drivers that are capable of winning the championship.

“On the flip side, when you get into one and two, that compromises your constructors’ championship. So it’s a difficult sport. We’re racers. We want to go racing.

“We want both drivers to have a chance to win the championship, and that comes with some risk—like 2007. But we’re all aware of that and prepared that that could potentially be an outcome.”

Brown added McLaren will continue to evaluate on a race-by-race basis if Verstappen is a threat, but will continue to give both drivers equal opportunity.

“We’re one race at a time,” Brown explained. “I’ve been asked a lot to predict the future. I think where we’re sitting right now is Max is too close for comfort. Lando is one win, Oscar one DNF away.

“We saw what happened in Holland - how quickly things can change. So we're just focused on this weekend, which is trying to get our drivers to finish first and second in the race, and we'll continue to evaluate on a race-by-race basis.

“If we get to a situation - and that’s what we did last year in Baku - to start helping Lando, then what ends up happening is Oscar goes and wins the race and Lando helps him. So this is a pretty unpredictable sport.

“But where we sit right now, we're going to give both drivers equal opportunity to try and win the drivers' championship.”

Why McLaren have been so secret about ‘repercussions’

McLaren have refused to disclose specifics around the “repercussions” Norris will face following his clash with Piastri in Singapore.

Brown admitted some “sporting” action has been taken internally, but stressed that it “probably won’t be noticed”.

Explaining why McLaren have been so secretive about the details of the consequences for Norris, Brown said: “We're racing against nine other teams. I don't think you want to necessarily show your hand on how you go motor racing.

“So we try and be as transparent as possible, but there’s a reason why engineering debriefs are only with teams - otherwise you start inviting other teams in. So I think that’s the best we can do.

“We try and be as transparent as possible in saying that some action has been taken, so I think that’s been very transparent. But at the end of the day, we're at a sporting event, and we can’t necessarily tell everyone everything - no different than our set-up sheets aren’t very public.”