Brown bracing for fireworks: ‘Don't miss the start of the Qatar GP’

McLaren boss Zak Brown is bracing for a blockbuster opening lap on Sunday in Qatar, convinced Max Verstappen will unleash every ounce of aggression he has to keep his fading title hopes alive.

With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris locking out the front row at Lusail, and Verstappen starting right behind them, Brown expects the reigning champion to try something spectacular the moment the lights go out.

“For sure, you know he's going to try and lead into Turn 1, so I wouldn't miss the start of tomorrow's grand prix,” Brown told F1 TV – a comment that landed somewhere between excitement and warning.

The stakes could not be clearer: if Piastri and Norris hold their positions to the flag, Verstappen’s championship challenge is effectively over.

With Qatar’s razor-fast sweeps leaving drivers stuck in procession once the field settles and tyre strategy locked into a mandatory two-stop race, the Dutchman’s best – and perhaps only – hope is a lightning strike at the start.

McLaren Drivers 'Know the Rules'

Brown says the mission is simple: keep the orange cars ahead and turn F1’s season finale next week at Yas Marina into a straight fight between his two drivers.

“Our goal is to make sure papaya wins this championship, so if we can finish where we've started here and just have it be a two-horse race in Abu Dhabi, that's our goal. And if they want to reverse positions that's up to them, I don't care.

“It’s business as usual, they know the rules. We love watching them race, they race each other hard, they race each other cleanly, so, they know if they can kind of check out that we'll be looking good in Abu Dhabi.

“But let’s see, they’ve got to do that first.”

Red Bull Fires Back: ‘We believe we can fight’

Over in the Red Bull garage, senior advisor Helmut Marko is equally convinced Sunday will deliver drama, starting with a blockbuster first corner.

“Overtaking is nearly impossible. I think you have to do it in the first corner or in the first two laps. But we have two stops and that offers some tactical possibilities,” Marko told Motorsport.com.

Marko insists Verstappen’s Saturday struggles were not representative of Red Bull’s true pace. After the team swapped to a better-condition older floor and tweaked the setup, he believes the RB21 is far more competitive than it looked.

“We changed a lot. First of all, we put an [another] old floor, which was in better shape than the one that was damaged, and we made some other changes,” Marko explained.

“So we cured it and it showed. We had been more or less half a second behind the whole weekend. And now it's only two tenths, so that makes us feel confident.”

• Read also: Norris explains why final flyer was aborted in Qatar GP qualifying

And with Verstappen expected to feel more at home on the medium and hard tyres, Marko sees a genuine shot at victory.

“I'm still optimistic because the difference on the medium and hard tyre was even less, so I believe in the race we could be competitive,” the Austrian said.

With McLaren’s chargers defending a front-row fortress and Verstappen forced into all-or-nothing mode, Brown is right: missing the start of the Qatar Grand Prix might be the biggest mistake of the season.

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