Brown addresses 'difficult' McLaren team order position

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has conceded it would be “difficult” for the team to instruct Oscar Piastri to hand over a race win to Lando Norris.

McLaren has pledged to help Norris close a 59-point gap to Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship with seven races remaining.

Last time out in Baku, it was Piastri who won the grand prix while Norris charged to fourth after enduring a difficult qualifying result which left him starting outside the top 10.

When asked if McLaren would be prepared to swap their drivers around to decide a race win, Brown said: “Ultimately, that’ll be Andrea's [Stella] call. 

“I think handing off a race win is a pretty difficult thing to do. So you have to look at the circumstances. 

“We’re going to take it one race set at a time. I think that's a pretty big ask of a grand prix driver.”

Norris wants to win 'the right way'

Norris has taken two race wins so far this year, the same as team-mate Piastri.

The Briton is being prioritised in the championship fight due to being closer to Verstappen in the standings - but Brown insisted that Norris does not want to be handed wins by Piastri.

“I think Lando wants to win the championship, if he can, the right way,” he said.

“So I think we still have a lot of racing to go. I have to look at the circumstances - but I think if Oscar goes out and earns it, I'm not sure Lando wants to inherit a victory that way anyway.

“Anything we can now do to help Lando, we’ll do that, and whether that's strategically. 

“We don't want to obviously compromise Oscar's results because he's having an awesome season and has a battle of his own. 

“But if there are things that we can do that support Lando, that's what we'll do.”