McLaren chief Zak Brown believes the title fight between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris has offered more excitement than any involving Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen currently leads the Drivers’ Championship standings but Norris has been chipping away at the gap in recent months.
McLaren have emerged as the fastest team on the grid, with Red Bull on the decline and at risk of losing their Constructors’ Championship title. Oscar Piastri’s victory in Baku helped McLaren to surpass them at the top of the standings, with Norris coming home in fourth.
“Brown mentioned how he is finding the title fight more enjoyable compared to the 2021 battle where Verstappen defeated Hamilton on the final lap of the season.”
Brown believes that the current season of Formula One is the best one he has witnessed so far. He mentioned that the 2021 season was very exciting, with only two skilled drivers competing.
However, in the current race, there are four strong teams participating.
Having four teams capable of winning any weekend, including Sergio Perez who showed good form today, means there will be eight drivers competing in Singapore. “We are thinking: ‘I’m unsure which team out of these four will emerge victorious, I’m not sure which driver out of these eight will win.’ I can’t remember Formula One ever being this competitive.”
The 2021 F1 season is considered one of the best ever, even though there was controversy during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Michael Masi, the race director, made a mistake by not following the rules properly when he let only certain lapped cars pass the safety car towards the end of the race.
Masi did not follow the usual protocol of completing a full lap behind the safety car after lapped cars had moved back into position.
Instead, he restarted the race on the following lap. It is unclear if this season’s competition for victory will result in the same amount of controversy as in the past or if the FIA has taken lessons from their previous errors.
Nonetheless, it seems to be gearing up for an exciting season as Norris trails behind Verstappen by only 59 points in the standings.
“McLaren recently announced that they will focus more on Norris than Piastri in their efforts to overthrow Verstappen’s dominant reign, as stated by team principal Andrea Stella in an interview with BBC Sport. Stella mentioned, “Our support will lean towards Lando, but we aim to maintain our principles without making significant compromises.” “Our priority is always the team’s best interest.
We value sportsmanship in our approach to racing, and strive to ensure fairness for both drivers.”