Brown: McLaren has to ignore ‘horror movie’ character Verstappen

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown says his team should ignore “horror movie” character Max Verstappen as the Pink Bull driver remains a serious threat in the F1 title race.

Verstappen, who starts sixth in Saturday’s Dash at the Qatar Grand Prix – live on Sky Sports activities F1 at 2pm – is 24 points behind championship leader Lando Norris with two rounds to go.

The Dutchman has returned to title contention since falling 104 points behind Oscar Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in August and will mathematically still be in the championship for the deciding event in Abu Dhabi if his deficit to Norris is less than 26 points.

“He’s like that guy in the horror movie who you think is depressed and suddenly asks, ‘Where did he come from?!’” Brown said. Sky Sports F1.

“He’s an immense talent, as good as anyone we’ve ever seen. I think we have to ignore him, we can’t control what he does.

“Our mentality is to get to the front row, finish first and second, and then we won’t have to worry about him – but that’s easier said than done.”

Brown’s comments came as Verstappen told PA he would have “easily” won the Drivers’ Championship already if he had been behind the wheel of McLaren’s 2025 car.

“We wouldn’t be talking about a championship,” said the four-time world champion without hesitation.

“I mean, they won the constructors’ championship so early that yes, you can fill it yourself.”

Title protagonists with different goals for Qatar Dash

Verstappen will have work to do in Saturday’s Dash, as he was overtaken by teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the second time this year and will start sixth.

The Pink Bull driver struggled with the jumps throughout Friday despite changes to the car to try and mitigate the tricky handling.

“With that balance, Dash won’t be very fun. It’ll be more about trying to survive, I think, and making some changes to qualifying,” he said.

Norris did not improve on his final flying lap after getting mixed up with Williams’ Alex Albon on his out lap, and then went wide at the final corner, starting behind George Russell and Dash pole-sitter Piastri.

“I would be stupid not to try to win, but it’s impossible to overtake, so I think I’ll probably finish in P3,” said Norris.

“Getting past George Russell on the line is probably the best I can hope for.”

Piastri has a great opportunity to reduce the 24-point deficit to Norris by at least one point on Saturday before looking to make bigger gains in Sunday’s main Grand Prix.

He had not beaten Norris in a lap since the Singapore Grand Prix in early October, having struggled in the fourth Americas races, but could make a small comeback in the last two race weekends if his Dash pole is anything to go by.

“The pace was there all day, so it was good to be able to control it,” said Piastri.

“We will review overnight to see what we can do to ensure we finish top in the Dash tomorrow and prepare properly for qualifying.”

Cronograma do GP do Catar da Sky Sports activities F1

Saturday, November 29th
1pm: Preparation for the Qatar Dash GP*
14h: GP do Catar SPRINT*
3:30 p.m.: Ted’s Dash Notebook*
16h15: F2 Dash
5:15 pm: preparation for qualifying for the Qatar GP
6pm: QATAR GP QUALIFICATION
8pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday, November 30th
11h55: Resource F2
2:30 pm: Sunday’s Grand Prix: preparation for the Qatar GP
4pm: QATAR GRAND PRIX
6pm: Checkered flag: reaction to the Qatar GP
7pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also in Main Event Sky Sports activities

Formula 1’s season-ending triple header continues with the Qatar Dash Grand Prix weekend live on Sky Sports activities F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime