Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Friday, 06 March 2026, 12:55 / Updated Friday, 06 March 2026 12:55
Zak Brown, the boss of the champion team in Formula 1, responds harshly to those who insist that Oscar Piastri would have been disadvantaged by McLaren in the battle with Lando Norris. The Briton became world champion for the first time in 2025, with 13 points more than his Australian colleague.
The subject was brought back to life ahead of the first race of 2026, the Australian Grand Prix (Sunday, 06:00, Antena 1 and AntenaPLAY), in which McLaren start as pole favourites.
Many Australians remain convinced that Oscar has not benefited from the same support as Norris, who was crowned world champion mainly thanks to the results in the second part of the season after the summer break.
The subject reached the ears of McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown, who did not spare the conspiracy theorists.
McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown: “The allegations against us are shocking!”
“Many of the reports and allegations against us were untrue. We did not favor Norris, our drivers had the opportunity to compete freely against each other
Our two drivers won 7 races each and everything was decided in the last stage. Both had a shot at the title. We are proud of this achievement.
We were prepared for the consequences at the end of the battle and knew that one would lose because they were stealing points from each other. We want both our drivers to have equal chances, we also made some mistakes. This is a competition. The conspiracy theories and accusations against us were not true at all.
But I can't control the opinion of people inside and outside of the sport, though I find the allegations against McLaren shocking”, Brown reacted in Melbourne.
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The first key moment of the new season will take place on Saturday, at 07:00 Romanian time, when the qualifications for the first race of the year are scheduled.
