McLaren F1 chief admits Norris and Piastri tensions amid 'train crash' fear
Zak Brown has admitted tensions are likely to rise between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri "sooner rather than later".
After all, it is a common side effect when a team has two highly talented drivers on the books who have just as much ambition. Both McLaren stars have the talent to challenge for race wins and titles, but only one can be victorious in any given Grand Prix or season.
Chief executive Brown is not naive and knows it will likely lead to some internal conflict. But he is similarly sure that he and team principal Andrea Stella will be able to keep a lid on things when the time comes.
The American said civil war between is drivers is "not a concern" he has, but admitted: "There's an awareness that anytime you have two drivers that one is going to have to beat the other at some weekends.
"They're super competitive right now, you feel a real energy around them driving for the team. We know there will be a day, probably sooner rather than later, when they're looking after their own interests. I feel Andrea's and my strengths are around driver management, so I think we can get ahead of that and manage it to make sure it stays a healthy competitiveness."
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Using his abundant talent and greater experience in Formula 1, Norris comfortably out-performed his new team-mate in their first season together. But that takes away nothing from Piastri who enjoyed a stellar rookie campaign - probably the best any newcomer has managed since Lewis Hamilton first burst onto the scene 16 years ago.
For the most part, they worked well together. There was just the one flashpoint of note, at the Italian Grand Prix when they made contact with one another at the first chicane - leading to an angry post-race outburst from their very unimpressed boss Stella.
The Italian said at the time that talks would be held, and Brown has confirmed a "healthy conversation" took place in the aftermath. And he feels that was an example of how he and Stella are taking the right approach when it comes to managing their young prodigies.
He said: "We've all seen from our experience in Formula 1, you can see train crashes coming. You don't know exactly what the team bosses do, but you kind of sit there and go, 'I'd be kind of getting on that now' and it strikes me from the outside looking in sometimes you've seen things escalate and it doesn't appear the team's jumped in soon enough.
"So after Monza, which is the first and only time they touched, we had a very healthy conversation, and don't wait till it happens a second time or third time. I think having once driven - not as fast as either of these two guys - I think helps understand the psychology of the driver and when and where and how to approach because I have seen you can approach drivers at the wrong time and you actually make it worse."
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