Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri knew McLaren wanted to sign one F1 driver at the end of last season

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown is constantly looking for ways to improve his Formula 1 team.

The constructors’ championship should have been sealed by McLaren at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but a horror weekend means that they’ve had to delay their celebrations.

Oscar Piastri could only blame himself for a string of mistakes that saw his race in Baku come to an end before the first lap.

His teammate, Lando Norris, didn’t fare much better as he failed to capitalise on his closest rival crashing out and could only add six points to his tally.

With seven race weekends to go, McLaren will be looking over their shoulders at what Max Verstappen can achieve between now and Abu Dhabi.

Back-to-back wins for the Red Bull driver have brought him within 69 points of Oscar Piastri, and a positive result in Singapore will set alarm bells ringing for Zak Brown and Andrea Stella.

Brown is regarded as one of the paddock’s best businessmen and always has his eye on a potential deal.

It turns out that he’s been looking closely at one driver on the grid, and Norris and Piastri are all too aware of his interest.

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris lost confidence over Zak Brown’s interest in Max Verstappen

A report from F1 Insider has shared more details about what’s going on at McLaren right now.

Stella was keen to point out that even the best drivers make mistakes after Piastri’s horror weekend; however, ‘between the lines’, it was clear he wasn’t happy with either driver.

It’s believed Verstappen and Red Bull’s renaissance is beginning to ‘disrupt’ how both McLaren drivers prepare.

Brown has always shown a fondness for Verstappen and has previously competed against his father, Jos Verstappen, earlier in his racing career.

It’s believed that Brown would like Verstappen to race for McLaren’s new endurance programme, but not only that, he ‘could also imagine Verstappen in the Formula 1 team’.

‘Well-connected F1 insiders’ believe that Brown asked Jos Verstappen about the availability of his son at the end of last season, something that Piastri and Norris ‘know’ about.

It’s said that Brown’s pursuit of Verstappen didn’t ‘boost their confidence’ knowing that if the four-time world champion was available, one of them would be out the door.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

How would the F1 driver market look if McLaren signed Max Verstappen?

Verstappen could leave Red Bull at the end of next season if they don’t live up to his lofty expectations.

Several teams would be very interested in his services, but if McLaren throw their hat into the ring, then they might be difficult to turn down.

The first question for McLaren would be whether to drop Norris or Piastri.

Norris has a closer personal relationship with Verstappen, and if he finishes below Piastri in the drivers’ championship, then McLaren may feel they can better manage a partnership between the two.

However, a combination of Verstappen and Piastri would be virtually impossible to stop in the right car, although Mark Webber might advise the Australian against that pairing, given the difficulty he had alongside Sebastian Vettel during his racing career.