As the championship battle between friends Lando Norris and Max Verstappen intensifies, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has moved to diffuse any recent tensions.
Brown has been outspoken about Red Bull's breach of the budget cap and the controversy surrounding Christian Horner, and he also criticised Verstappen following an on-track incident with Norris earlier in the year.
However, with Norris now driving the faster car and attempting to close a 70-point gap to Verstappen, Brown is now tempering his earlier remarks.
"Max's car was very good. And if you put Max in it, he was completely unbeatable," Brown told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "That may have been interpreted as me meaning that he only won because of the car, but that is not what I meant. Just look at how a good driver like Sergio Perez is performing now.
"Max is one of the best Formula 1 drivers ever," said the American. "So I would just like to clear that up."
Brown also downplayed his comments about the collision between Norris and Verstappen in Austria, where he had suggested the Dutch driver lacked "respect."
"I thought Max was a bit too aggressive there and he also got a penalty from the stewards, so I wasn't the only one," he said. "But I didn't mean that he's not a good driver. Man, I raced against his father Jos and have enormous respect for both of them. But I can also imagine that not all Red Bull supporters are still fans of Zak Brown," he smiled.
As the championship showdown between Verstappen and Norris for the 2024 drivers' title looms, the rapport between the two might already be under strain.
Norris described his win at Verstappen's home Dutch GP last weekend as "simply lovely"—a phrase almost always used by the Red Bull driver himself.
"As much as they are friends, I know how competitive Max is," said Daniel Ricciardo, who has been teammates with both Verstappen and Norris, at Monza.
"He would not have taken that very nicely or too well."
Brown, for his part, downplayed the chances of Norris beating Verstappen to his fourth consecutive title.
"I can imagine that Lando can close the gap some more in the second half of the season," he said. "But Max has already won the first half and created a big gap."
"Mathematically it is possible to catch up with him and we will do everything we can. But it would be naive to say now that Lando will overtake Max. We'd have to be lucky, and he'd have to have a lot of bad luck. Max has the potential to still come second even on a bad day," Brown added.
"And suppose Lando wins eight of the nine races and Max comes second every time, that will still be enough for him (Verstappen) to be champion."
