McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown in thinly veiled Max Verstappen jibe 'unfortunately racing a dirty driver cleanly doesn’t work out'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

McLaren F1 chief Zak Brown has revealed he told his drivers to take on their rivals at their own game.The American watched Lando Norris emerge as Red Bull ace Max Verstappen's biggest challenger in a dramatic 2024 season, that saw the Dutchman take the title - despite struggling with his car, whilst McLaren lifted the constructors championship for the first time since 1998 after a tense battle with Ferrari.

However the rivalry between Brit Norris and the four-time world champion reached fever-pitch in a controversial Mexican GP, where Verstappen was handed a 20 second time penalty for two incidents where he ran the McLaren star off track.The clashes in Mexico looked to put a strain on the previously friendly relationship between both drivers, with Norris telling F1.com: "In some ways, you kind of think how someone can be personally and how you can get along with people can be so different to how you are on track." And now McLaren CEO Zak Brown has now revealed the instructions he gave Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri when taking on aggressive opponents.Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Brown said: "Unfortunately you’ve got to race drivers the way they’d race you.

There are some drivers who are easy to pass and some who are hard to pass. Some will run you two wheels off track and some drivers will run you four wheels off.

Which is not cool."Sometimes the only way to race another driver who will race you four wheels off is to put them four wheels off.