Zach Brown says McLaren will likely sit down with Oscar Piastri and Rand Norris to understand how the driver wants the team to handle the outcome of their championship fight.
Piastri led Norris just nine points during the mid-season break, with second-placed Norris 88 points in third and Max Verstappen in 10 races. Brown acknowledged that one of the two McLaren drivers is likely to win the title, and the team will discuss how that scenario will be addressed given that one driver has missed out.
“That’s interesting because at Silverstone we were obviously very pleased with Rand and disappointed in Oscar,” Brown said. “So we’re not having that conversation. The championship comes a long way, but in the end you’ll end up in a situation where you actually think you should sit with the driver.
“If we’re in a situation where we’re coming back to two of them, and I think the other guys are in the championship, so if I say ‘if’, I can confidently say that after a little more race, we’ll be two guys. Do you want us to handle it? ”
“We actually want to sit down and ‘Jump up and down and celebrate this guy winning?’ So how do we celebrate that situation?
“That’s our way of thinking. It’s coming back to thinking about our people. Silverstone was the same thing. I was able to break the ice with Oscar. Obviously he was upset (that’s) and I tend to get it.
“When we got to the 17th and 18th, I was being harassed. We were first and second (in Silverstone) and I’m still being harassed by a different fanbase!
“I especially got one note, but it was pretty off the charts. And I’m walking into the fan zone with Oscar, and then, “Hey, I didn’t have to send this note.” Because it was a pretty offensive note from Oscar fans. And I laughed from him.
“I think he was once a driver, but I really understand that Oscar gets upset, so give him a little space. If you can fix it in that moment, I believe in dealing with things in that moment.
“Is something happened with the driver, or it happened with strategy, and over the years we’ve seen whether James Hunt is punching the ex, so we can’t do anything right now, so let’s try and lower the temperature for everyone.
“I’m always trying to break the ice and I’m a bit stupid with the driver. So when I laughed out of the Oscar, I seemed to be in a stage of ok, good, calm, like driving a turbo race car.
“But I thought about ‘How do you deal with winners and losers?’ If you want, it becomes the conversation we have with the driver and “How do we want us to act?” because we are very considerate about that approach. ”
Given how close the two are to their current rankings, Brown believes that the title race can be determined by factors other than driver control, as he believes that performance levels are roughly the same.
“I think it’s going to go back to execution because it’s obvious from a pace perspective,” he said.
“So I think it depends on the consistency of the execution, or it could lead to good fortune in a draw.
