Zak Brown takes aim at 'shocking allegations' against McLaren

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has criticised personnel who voiced “inaccurate” and ”shocking” allegations against the squad last year.

Brown oversaw McLaren's intra-team title fight between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in 2025, with the former coming out on top at the final round of the year in Abu Dhabi.

It was also forced to deal with Max Verstappen's late-season surge as the four-time F1 champion became a significant threat to McLaren in the championship fight in the final stages.

While Verstappen closed in on the McLarens, Piastri endured a blip in form and relinquished his championship lead to Norris, which he could not recover by the end of the year.

Some - particularly in Australia - suggested that McLaren was favouring Norris, prompting a passionate response from Brown.

“A lot of it was very inaccurate,” he told the media, including RacingNews365. “At the end of the day, we let both our drivers race hard.

“We had two drivers who won seven races; it came down to the last race of the year, with both having a chance of winning the championship. We're quite proud of that. 

“We were prepared for the consequence of someone not winning because they're taking points off each other. 

“As a racing team, you let both drivers race fairly equitably. And of course, we made mistakes along the way. 

“They made mistakes along the way. That's racing. The conspiracy theories and the allegations that were made were so wide of the mark.”

Article continues below

Brown 'can't control' shocking, uninformed views

While McLaren prevailed in the constructors' championship with ease, Verstappen came within two points of beating Norris in the drivers' standings and managed to finish ahead of Piastri.

Despite missing out on a one-two finish, Brown reiterated his pride in McLaren as he conceded that it is powerless to sway certain people's opinions.

“I'm very, very proud of how our team and our drivers just stayed focused and we achieved what we wanted to achieve,” he said.

“We would have liked to have been first and second in the championship, but we won the constructors', won the drivers'.

“Both drivers had seven wins; we couldn't be more proud of how they raced.

“But you can't control people's opinions in sport. People are going to have their views. 

“It is shocking at times how uninformed people are in their allegations of what they think we're up to.”