Brown denies McLaren's battle with Renault is compromising its relationship

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has denied that the on-track rivalry between McLaren and its engine supplier Renault has hampered its relationship this year.

McLaren currently sits fourth in the constructors' standings, 21 points ahead of Renault, who was hoping to break clear of the midfield fight in 2019.

However, it is currently McLaren who leads the middle of the pack fight, while Renault has struggled at a number of races this year.

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Renault has been supplying power units to McLaren since 2018, but the Woking squad has increased its performance massively compared to 12 months ago.

Brown denies that this has strained the relationship between McLaren and Renault: "It's been pretty simple. We've got good and open communication with them. There's a good separation between Viry and Enstone and we've not had any issues," he said. 

"We're getting good power units, we set our own strategy so we've not felt compromised at any point during the year, because they are our top competitors at the moment.

"That's not compromised how we've gone racing, the power unit, the upgrades, any of that. 

"We're all under pressure. Any time a team has the same power unit, which we had last year, so that exposed our weaknesses, but they're right on our heels. It's not exactly a big gap between us and Renault.

"They've been ahead of us, we've been ahead of them so it's been a good fight," Brown added.

Brown played down talk that McLaren has a lesser 'party mode' to play with in qualifying, insisting the team is pleased with what it is given.

"I don't know what party modes they have, I know what party modes we have. When we get that increase in power, it works and we're happy with the power unit," Brown affirmed. We feel like we get what we've been promised."