McLaren CEO Zak Brown has racing in his blood as he loves all types of motorsports from F1 to IndyCar. While he has overseen McLaren’s renaissance to front-running form in various disciplines, F1 still holds dear to him. So it makes sense why F1 cars dominate his personal collection of race cars from the past.
The American recently gave ESPN’s Nicole Briscoe a walkthrough of this car collection. Brown has multiple F1 and IndyCar machinery in his possession with iconic anecdotes of drivers like Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti, and Emerson Fittipaldi connected to them.
Besides the 1978 championship-winning Lotus of Andretti, Brown also has the iconic yellow-and-blue Williams of 1987 that Mansell drove to six Grand Prix victories. In addition to that, the McLaren CEO has managed to get the 1989 Indy500-winning car of Fittipaldi, who was the first F1 world champion for the Woking outfit.
Looking back at the kind of success these champion drivers of the ’70s and ’80s earned, Brown wants his current drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, to follow in their footsteps. The 53-year-old believes that since Norris and Piastri have still not won any titles, they need to remain grounded no matter how much of the fans’ love they receive.
And Brown has no problem telling Norris and Piastri the same to their faces.
“It’s funny, you know everyone now wants to meet Lando Norris and Oscar, and they’re great guys, but they are no Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi, but I tell them that to their face”, Brown told Briscoe in this feature with ESPN.
Zak Brown: “Piastri and Norris, there will be no team orders”
— McLaren CEO Zak Brown expressed confidence in the dynamic between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, affirming that both drivers will continue to compete freely without internal restrictions. With McLaren winning five… pic.twitter.com/Eu2jQCbdw0
— This is Formula 1 (@ThisIsFormu1a1) May 11, 2025
With Norris and Piastri having just begun to win races last year, it will obviously take them a while to reach the status that the likes of Mansell and Fittipaldi reached. But Brown, knowing the talent his drivers have, is confident that they will reach there someday.
As a matter of fact, considering the kind of strong package McLaren have produced this year with the MCL39, Norris and Piastri are the favorites to fight for the title this season. Having won five out of the six Grands Prix so far, it is clear that the McLaren duo may have a fierce intra-team title battle in 2025.
Piastri, though, seems to have the clear edge so far with four victories under his belt already. On the contrary, Norris—who was the pre-season title favorite—hasn’t won any race since his season-opening win in Australia. So, as things stand, the Australian is in pole position to secure his maiden championship ahead of his teammate.
Irrespective of who wins the championship, the one who will come out on top is likely to receive all the attention and a huge increase in fan base.
It is the same reason why both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton—having won every world title in the past decade—are two of the most popular drivers on the current grid, with social media following in excess of 14.2 million and 39.5 million, respectively.
However, this increased attention on social media has turned out to be a double-edged sword, with additional hate and trolling being common against a driver, who is either dominating or not able to capitalize on their potential.
Verstappen has been a victim of the same during his uber-dominant seasons in 2022-23. Meanwhile, Norris has been facing the latter scenario of late. So, the McLaren duo will have to be wary of the same.
