Zak Brown wishes Oscar Piastri fans could hear what he said to Andrea Stella on McLaren pit wall

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Zak Brown and McLaren are facing accusations that Lando Norris is receiving preferential treatment in the F1 title race. This is a common theme when two teammates battle for the world title.

Some in the paddock think McLaren are favouring Norris over Oscar Piastri. This may be accidental, but CEO Brown understands that recent ‘incidents’ have ‘fallen Lando’s way’.

Norris was allowed to keep third place at the Singapore GP earlier this month after bumping his way past Piastri at the start. After McLaren reviewed the move, the Australian was given preferential qualifying run plans in Austin – but this arrangement has now ended after Piastri was deemed predominantly at fault for the turn-one crash in the Sprint.

At Monza, Piastri gave second place back to Norris after the latter’s slow pit stop. And in Hungary, the Briton was allowed to use an alternative one-stop strategy that ultimately saw him come from behind and beat his teammate.

Zak Brown insists Oscar Piastri had better strategy in McLaren Hungary controversy

Brown’s company, United Autosports, previously held a share in Quadrant, Norris’ business. This led to claims that the American had a ‘managerial relationship’ with his driver.

In an interview on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, he called that claim ‘nonsense’.

After the aforementioned race in Hungary, McLaren’s rivals thought Piastri had the right to be upset. Precedent dictates that the lead driver in a team enjoys the preferential strategy.

But Brown says that’s exactly what Piastri got, in McLaren’s estimations. He even told team principal Andrea Stella on the pit wall that it wouldn’t work, an interaction that was captured by the ‘Drive to Survive’ cameras.

He said: “You take Hungary as an example because I was on pit wall. That was a free punt because of how the race was playing out. I wish Netflix was here now, because you’ll hear the pit wall conversation. Andrea and I were like, ‘This isn’t going to work.’

“But it was a free punt, and Lando drove brilliantly, and had that been any other track where passing was a little bit easier, I don’t think it would have worked. Clearly, Oscar was on the better strategy, and had it been Silverstone, I don’t think Lando would have been able to defend that.

“That’s just how the chips fall. It appears the couple of incidents that happened most recently have fallen Lando’s way – Hungary, on pit wall, we didn’t think that was going to work for Lando.

“Instead of people saying ‘Lando drove brilliantly’, they said, ‘They gave Lando the better strategy’. That’s not what we thought at the time.”

Zak Brown explains what ‘everyone’ is getting wrong about Monza team orders

Turning to Monza, Brown said it was only fair for Norris to finish second, even if Piastri suggested over the radio that ‘slow pit stops are part of racing’.

Norris had shown ‘great teamwork’, and didn’t deserve to be punished for doing so.

Brown was previously bothered by external accusations that McLaren weren’t treating their drivers equally. But now, he’s only concerned with what team insiders think.

The team’s specific practices are constantly under review, but their core philosophy remains the same.

• READ MORE: McLaren once said they’d sooner ‘lose a title’ than make Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris no. 1 driver

“The situation in Monza – if the lead car is prepared to sacrifice their right to the first call, to help his teammate, who’s actually his number one competitor in the championship, that’s great teamwork,” he said.

“We did that to protect Oscar, which actually is to the detriment of Lando in an out-and-out race. Then we had the pit stop issue. Everyone thinks we reversed it because of the pit stop issue. That actually had nothing to do with it.

“I understand what it looks like from the outside, but it’s not what’s going on the inside, and we’re trying so hard to give them equal opportunity and let them race hard.

“I wish everyone recognised that more, but I’ve definitely come to the conclusion that there are too many people with too many views and we’ve just got to be comfortable with how we’re going racing inside McLaren and that’s what’s most important to us.”