Andrea Stella has taken aim at the "very superficial" remarks suggesting McLaren prefers either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri to win the F1 drivers' championship.
Throughout the second half of the campaign, the Woking-based squad has been besieged by unfounded accusations of favouritism.
Both Piastri and Norris have been labelled the preferred driver at differing points, with the latter currently the supposed beneficiary of unequal treatment.
The notion that McLaren would rather the Briton win the title than his team-mate cuts against the nature of the team, which has long championed its stance of impartiality.
Allowing both its drivers equal opportunity to fight for a maiden crown in F1 has opened the door to Max Verstappen potentially stealing the title.
Zak Brown shared his preference that the Red Bull driver take the championship honours rather than see his team "playing favourites" between Norris and Piastri on F1's Beyond the Grid podcast.
With team principal Stella alongside him, the Italian explained his desire to win or lose as a "united" front.
He added: "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.
"And 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 united as we are."
The 54-year-old was keen to stress there is no bias within McLaren, comparing Norris and Piastri to having "two sons" in the team.
"So when you are in my role, it’s like when you have two sons and somebody says, 'Which one is your preferred son?' Yeah, but they are my two sons, how can you say which one is the preferred one?" he said.
Stella argued that those making allegations of favouritism and perceived preferential treatment "don't really understand" the realities of being in an F1 team.
"Sometimes when I hear or read some comments of this kind, I find them really very superficial and just like, I think sometimes people don’t really understand what it means to have two drivers that are with you together in this journey in Formula 1," he explained.
"I just feel very grateful to both, in fairness."
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