McLaren issue Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ban at Abu Dhabi GP as Nico Rosberg lifts lid | F1 | Sport

Nico Rosberg revealed that McLaren have made Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri unavailable for media commitments during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. Zak Brown is desperate to keep the spotlight off his two drivers as they battle Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship title at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Norris has enjoyed an exceptional start to the weekend in Abu Dhabi, finishing fastest in FP1 and FP2, before ending FP3 just four-thousandths of a second behind Mercedes’ George Russell at the top of the timing screens.

Piastri is also building up his weekend. The Australian was only 11th-fastest in FP2 after missing the first practice session, but improved to fifth in FP3, under three-tenths behind his McLaren team-mate.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1’s David Croft during the final practice outing, CEO Brown said: “ I’m impressed as well. They are more relaxed than I’ve ever seen them. They are enjoying the pressure of the world championship battle here.

“We had a great team barbecue… what was it, 2 nights ago, and their speeches were great. And I think they were very excited for qualifying tomorrow.” The American executive’s comments attracted the attention of 2016 world champion Rosberg, who was also in the commentary booth.

“Allow me to correct you there, Zak,” he chimed in. “They are not enjoying this. This is, uh, this is super massively the most intense moment of their life in racing. That’s not enjoyable. But anyway, we’ll leave it, we’ll leave it at those two different points of view.

Accepting the German’s assessment, Brown replied: “Yeah, I said it looks like they’re enjoying it. You would know better than I.” It was at this point that Rosberg revealed a special ban that McLaren have laid down in Abu Dhabi.

“The important distinguishment there in that word,” Rosberg replied. “Okay, so a lot of Hollywood going on there. Anyway, Zak, how have you tried to help them? I know you’ve cut us as media off, for example.

“We are not allowed to have access to them this weekend, and I fully understand that. That’s because you really want to help them have their 100 per cent focus and energy in this insane moment. What else have you done internally?”

Explaining the ban, Brown joked: “Yeah, we gotta keep them away from you, bad guys. No, just trying to pretend like there’s not a lot at stake, right? But as you know, and as you correctly say, of course, there is.

“We’re just trying to keep them very focused, very relaxed, not trying to overwork up the sponsored commitments, media commitments, and then, you know, while Andrea takes the technical approach to the weekend, I’m kind of the fun guy. So just trying to keep everything a bit lighthearted.”