McLaren attitude called out as Zak Brown's squad 'afraid' of Max Verstappen fight

Jacques Villeneuve has called out McLaren's 'weakness' that he believes was on show during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The 1997 F1 world champion felt as though Zak Brown's squad were 'happy' to have finished second and third behind Max Verstappen on Sunday. Oscar Piastri started the Grand Prix from pole position and got a better launch than his championship rival, but Max Verstappen launched an audacious move around the outside at Turn One, catching the Australian napping.

When the cars emerged from Turn Two, the four-time world champion had the lead. A misjudged strategy decision then dropped Piastri deep into the field, while Verstappen consolidated his lead with a fortunately timed virtual safety car. Later in the race, McLaren opted against using team orders to give Lando Norris a chance to attack the Red Bull driver following a safety car restart, with the Brit on fresher tyres than his team-mate.

"They show weakness," he told Sky Sports F1, judging McLaren's two-three finish in Imola. "Basically, they don't show the strength that Red Bull are always showing year after year. It's as if they're afraid to be aggressive in trying to win the Drivers' Championship, and they're afraid to go against Piastri. It's really, really odd.

"Piastri messed up that first corner. He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of the corner second, and then he didn't have the pace, which was odd. Norris had more pace. On the restart, McLaren knew that it was a matter of laps before Norris would have taken Piastri with the tyre difference; it was obvious.

"100 per cent sure he would get ahead, so why make him lose three laps instead of giving him a shot at Verstappen? Because Verstappen is in for the championship. You don't want to give Verstappen wins. That's more points for him in the Drivers' Championship.

"They seem to be happy with second and third. McLaren has a car where a good weekend means first and second. Anything less is a bit disappointing. First and third is fairly acceptable, but they seem happy with second and third."

For Norris, the Drivers' Championship picture looks more positive heading into next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. The Brit is 13 points behind team-mate Piastri at the top of the standings, despite having just one race win under his belt this season.

However, Verstappen is now back in play with the Dutchman back within a full race's points of the championship leader. Red Bull's star driver is 22 points back from Piastri and will be licking his lips heading into a weekend where qualifying is the critical session.