McLaren chief executive Zak Brown says the team do not want to favour either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri and would prefer to lose the drivers' championship to Max Verstappen.

The two McLaren drivers have been fighting it out for the world title all season, and with three races left, Norris sits top of the pile on 357 points, one ahead of Piastri.

However, with the drivers regularly taking points off each other, it has opened the door for Verstappen, who has been in stellar form since the summer break and now sits just 36 points behind Norris.

With this weekend's grand prix in Sao Paulo also including a sprint, Verstappen, who has won the last four drivers’ championships, has another chance to close the gap.

But Brown referenced the 2007 Formula One season, in which McLaren pair Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso narrowly lost the title to Kimi Raikkonen, with the team opting not to back a specific driver on that occasion either.

"We're well aware of 2007," Brown told the Beyond the Grid podcast. "Two drivers tied on points, one gets in the front.

"But we've got two drivers who want to win the world championship. We're playing offense; we're not playing defense.

"I'd rather go: 'We did the best we could with our drivers tied in points, and the other beat us by one', than the alternative: telling one of our drivers right now, when they're one point apart, 'I know you have a dream to win the world championship, but we flipped a coin, and you don't get to do it this year.' Forget it!

"That's not how we go racing. If 2007 happens again, I'd rather have that outcome than any other that involves playing favourites – we won't do it."

It's an #F1Sprint weekend in Sao Paulo 

Here's our schedule for Friday, Saturday and Sunday! #F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/IjL1KwPTHo

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 6, 2025

Norris leapfrogged Piastri in the standings after an impressive run at the Mexico City Grand Prix last time out.

He stormed to victory last time out, taking the chequered flag over 30 seconds in front of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, and though he is hoping for a similar outcome this weekend, he is not getting ahead of himself.

"Hoping and expecting are two different things!" Norris said.

"Of course, I hope to have another weekend like Mexico, which will be tricky because of the competition. I would say I also expect to be strong and have another good weekend.

"But you never know, with the weather here, it is easy for it to go anyone's way."

DRIVERS TO WATCH

Max Verstappen – Red Bull

Since the Dutch Grand Prix, after the summer break, Verstappen is by far the F1 driver who has scored the most points both in total (134 – George Russell second with 86) and as a per-weekend average (22.3 per GP – Russell second with 14.3) in this period.

Ready: whatever the weather #F1 || #BrazilGP  || @Armor_All pic.twitter.com/ZyPhig66BT

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 6, 2025

Verstappen secured pole position and victory in the last F1 sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.

Only the Dutchman himself has achieved two pole positions with victories in sprint races in a single year, doing so on three occasions: Emilia-Romagna and Austria in 2022, Austria and Belgium in 2023, and Miami, Austria and the United States in 2024.

Lando Norris – McLaren

Norris has been on the podium 16 times so far in 2025.

If he finishes in the top three again, the Brit will become only the fifth driver in F1 history to finish on the podium at least 17 times in a single season. He would join Hamilton (five times), Verstappen (three), Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher (once each).

Both Norris (six) and Piastri (seven) have achieved at least six victories in F1 in 2025. The McLaren duo are the first pair of team-mates to achieve six or more wins in the same year since Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2016 (10 and nine) with Mercedes.

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers'

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 357
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 356
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 321
4. George Russell (Mercedes) – 258
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 210

Constructors'

1. McLaren – 713
2. Ferrari – 356
3. Mercedes – 355
4. Red Bull – 346
5. Williams – 111