McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed that Oscar Piastri and Lando
Norris are the team's "secret weapon", with the outfit currently
being the strongest on the grid. The Woking-based team has enjoyed
a tremendous season and is applying the pressure on Red Bull for
the constructors' championship. Just 42 points separate Red Bull
and McLaren with 10 races remaining. An advantage for McLaren is
that both Norris and Piastri have won a race this campaign, a
statisitic Red Bull are unable to claim as Sergio Perez remains
without a victory. Despite Piastri and Norris both performing
strongly, management has been required, with Norris having
initially disobeyed team orders briefly in Hungary. Norris was
instructed to return the race lead to Piastri in the closing
stages, something which took several stern radio messages from the
team to make happen with three laps remaining. The incident
somewhat overshadowed Piastri's maiden win, although Brown believes
it is a significant strength that both of its drivers have won a
race now this season. "Yeah, 100% that both drivers have won races
this year," Brown told Sky Sports F1 . "They always drive for the
team, they've been fantastic. "If you go back to 2021 when we
finished first and second, I think Lando had a good shot at
Daniel. "But that situation was let's keep it where it is, so
we're always racing together as a team. I think our drivers are our
secret weapon." Brown wants both titles As mentioned, McLaren is
hunting Red Bull down in the constructors' standings and could
overhaul the Milton Keynes-based team within a couple of races
after the summer break concludes. It is a slightly different
picture in the drivers' championship, as Max Verstappen leads
Norris by a healthy 78 points. With this margin, Verstappen could
miss three races which follow the traditional F1 format, and return
at worst level on points in the lead. Despite this, Brown is not
wanting McLaren to focus on just the constructors' standings, with
the British team continuing to have both titles on its radar. "They
are both priorities, because ultimately to win the constructors' we
need our two drivers to be as high up as possible," outlined
Brown. "I'd like to see both drivers in the top three. We've got
second and fourth right now, and the closer we get to the drivers',
the closer that'll get us to the constructors'. "So we're going
for both because all points count."
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