McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said he hopes Max Verstappen’s pole-winning performance in qualifying was the result of a set-up target at one-lap pace.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start tomorrow’s championship-deciding race immediately behind the Red Bull driver. If Verstappen wins the race he needs Norris to finish outside the top three in order to take the title.

Brown suggested Red Bull may have prioritised taking pole position at the expense of giving Verstappen a car which can manage its tyres well over a stint in the race.

“Max put in two spectacular laps,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “I was concerned about the tow that he got from Tsunoda, but he didn’t need it the second time around.

“So hopefully they dialled in a one-lap wonder and they’ll pay the price tomorrow. But I’m not so sure that’s the case.”

Having claimed pole position, Verstappen could attempt to emulate Lewis Hamilton’s 2016 tactics by delaying Norris in the hope other cars overtake the McLaren. Brown said the team is considering all the possibilities.

“We’ll be thinking all those through,” he said. “Max is a smart racing driver, not only fast. So we’ll be ready for all the different scenarios.”

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Although Norris is certain to win the title if he finishes in the top three places, Brown said the team will go into the race trying to win it with both their drivers.

“We’ll talk about it in the in the morning, obviously, now that we know where we’ve qualified,” he said. “Obviously Lando needs to finish top three, Oscar needs to win and have some bad luck by both Max and Lando, which could happen. So I think it’s all to play for tomorrow.”

“You’ve got two guys going for the championship, so I’m sure Oscar’s mindset is ‘I need to win’,” he added. “And if he wins, then that takes points off Max, which means Lando doesn’t need to finish third.

“So I think I’ll have two different mindsets. But the field is so close, I think the minute you’re not fully on-it, if you’re too conservative, you’ll get swallowed up by the cars behind because it’s so close. So I think business as usual has got to be the approach.”

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