Even if Lando Norris does choose to leave McLaren, Zak Brown is confident he will still have a future Formula 1 world champion on the books.
Norris is tied down until the end of 2025 thanks to a new deal he signed before the start of last season. But the progress made by McLaren has stalled since then and the team has been overtaken by some rivals in the push towards the front of the grid.
Given Norris' status among the F1 drivers, that has led to plenty of speculation over his future. That was only fuelled by the admission that he had spoken with Christian Horner about the possibility of him joining Red Bull.
Brown has said on several occasions that he is not worried about losing Norris any time soon thanks to that contract. But if the Brit were to move on, then the American says he is confident that Oscar Piastri can step up to lead the team in the future.
The chief executive would, however, much prefer to keep the two starlets together. He told reporters: "Oscar has been impressive since we've had him in the car. He's very mature. He's very focused and he's very technical.
"The combination of Lando and Oscar, I couldn't think of a better combination of drivers. Oscar has done a fantastic job and he's trading lap times with Lando now and that's what you want.
"He's not really made – certainly not any big – mistakes. Typical exploring the limits so the odd lock of a wheel here and there but, yeah, he's not been to all these races so early indications are we've got a future world champion on our hands. We just have to work to give him a faster car now."
Meanwhile, Norris recently admitted he is flattered by the constant speculation linking him with a move to one of the top teams. The 23-year-old said: "It's nice that a lot of people believe that I should have an opportunity to be able to do better than what I'm doing now, or fighting for higher positions that aren't what I'm fighting for now.
"If I look at it from that perspective, it's a compliment that people are saying it. But I think it'll be the same with any driver, if they're having a tough time or if they're not getting the car that people maybe believe that they should be in. And it's what people are going to want to come up with.
"I wouldn't say it's a surprise. I think there's a level of like, last year the difficulties are acceptable, that happens every now and then. With the tough start to this season, then it's a little bit like... I can see why people would think 'Is Lando getting tired of it? Does he want to get out?'. I can see where people are coming from very easily. But I took it as a good thing that people believe I should be in a better car."
