McLaren F1 boss confirms No 1 driver declaration

McLaren boss Zak Brown has discussed the ongoing battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for their No 1 driver spot.

The team have been this year's surprise package in Formula 1, emerging as serious challengers to Red Bull's throne with a series of impressive results.

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Both Norris and Piastri have achieved race victories in Miami and Hungary respectively, with the pair showing they are more than a match for the likes of defending champion Max Verstappen.

Despite the atmosphere within the team being incredibly positive given their recent upturn in results, there were hints of some tension brewing behind the scenes during Piastri's win in Budapest.

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The Australian produced a superb performance at the Hungaroring to establish a comfortable advantage over his team-mate, when McLaren decided to call him into the pits before his colleague, thus reversing their positions.

The decision was made under the assumption that Norris would hand the position back, but the 26-year-old instead chose to pull away at the front, prompting a number of emotional pleas being made by his team over the radio.

The drivers eventually swapped positions with two laps remaining, but the episode created unnecessary problems on what was a historic day for the British team.

The incident sparked debate over the duo's respective roles within the team, particularly given Norris is firmly in the hunt for the drivers' title.

Speaking to Sky Germany at last weekend's Belgian GP, Brown confirmed that discussions will take place over the summer break over how to ensure they can maximise their results, having been pressed on if he will decide a No 1 driver during the summer break.

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"Yeah, we'll talk about it," he revealed. "I mean, we have two No 1s, so we'll never not give them equal opportunity.

"But as we get closer, if there's opportunities for Oscar to help Lando, we don't want to compromise Oscar's race.

"He could have won today, so I think we'll just kind of take it a race at a time and talk it through.

"But we want to make sure we give both guys the opportunity to win - they deserve it, and that's how we like to go racing."

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