Zak Brown reveals what he’ll say to Max Verstappen if Red Bull star snatches 2025 title from McLaren

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Max Verstappen is breathing down the neck of McLaren in the final four races as he finds himself back in the title hunt in 2025.

The Red Bull driver was 104 points behind Oscar Piastri after Zandvoort, with many, including himself, considering him out of the title picture. However, he has closed the gap to 36 points ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Lando Norris now leads the standings by one point over Piastri, but they have the four-time champion lurking behind. The Red Bull garage is motivated for Verstappen’s title charge, having given him a car that can challenge McLaren, with three wins in the last five races.

Red Bull will continue to upgrade the RB21 if it means their star driver can claim the championship. Verstappen says only ‘bad luck’ will stop him from winning the title – he is fully focused on catching Norris and Piastri.

‘Everyone’ at Red Bull says Verstappen must win in Brazil to keep his title hopes alive. Having won in Sao Paulo last year from P17, McLaren are under immense pressure this weekend to keep him at bay.

Zak Brown would congratulate Max Verstappen on a ‘job well done’ if he beats McLaren to 2025 F1 title

The 2025 title fight is almost reminiscent of 2007, when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso tied on points and lost to Kimi Raikkonen by one point. CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella know the history and the threat Verstappen poses.

Speaking on Beyond The Grid, the pair shared how they would react if the Dutchman were to beat McLaren to the title. They would be happy to lose, knowing they gave their all and gave their drivers equal opportunity to become a champion.

Stella said: “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 are going to win next year. We are going to be there and we are going to be there united as we are.”

Brown then added: “I’ll shake his hand and say: ‘Job well done’. I want to make sure, if we don’t win, he beats us, we don’t beat ourselves. That’s important.

“And we’re well aware of 2007, two drivers tie on points. But we’ve got two drivers who want to win the championship, we’re playing offence, we’re not playing defence.

“And I’d rather, we did the best we can and our drivers tied on points and the other guy beat us by one, than the alternative, which is telling one of our drivers right now, who are one point away from each other: ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship, but we’ve flipped the coin and you don’t get to do it this year’. Forget it, that’s not how we go racing.”

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

Zak Brown responds to critics who say McLaren are overmanaging Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

McLaren have constantly reiterated that Norris and Piastri are equal and will have the freedom to race and battle for the championship. But their controversy over team orders and interfering in races, notably at Monza, has drawn criticism.

Asked what he says to people who believe McLaren overmanages their drivers, Brown said: “Ignore them. We get the same question. We are so focused on ourselves and doing the right thing in the commitment we’ve made to the racing team, our sponsor partners, our shareholders and our fans.

“But not everyone can be as informed as we are. I think the reason why you see such a great relationship between Lando and Oscar is they know they have equal opportunity to win the world championship.

“And we’re transparent, we’re fair, we communicate. We’re not perfect, but we’re racers and they know that. There’s all this noise around, but we don’t let that noise come inside the MTC.”

“With Lando and Oscar, we need to talk about the racing framework. How do we go racing together? We talk, the four of us,” added Stella.

“It’s not going to be Zak and Andrea: ‘This is the framework, Oscar this is for you, Lando this is for you, now you go and execute’. We might have started with an idea and said: ‘Lando, Oscar, what do you think? What’s your contribution?’

“The drivers will not adhere to something they have not been part of in the making of it. They have to be part of it, so that’s where we started from.

“That’s what they’ve kind of… ‘We are in, we agree’, and that’s how we can manage it.”