American F1 chief Zak Brown calls out Oscar Piastri

Brown, Piastri, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

McLaren

American F1 chief Zak Brown calls out Oscar Piastri

Zak Brown did not hold back

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 16 December 2025 23:00

Zak Brown’s address to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at McLaren’s F1 Christmas Party was laced with subtle digs as he brought his two leading drivers back down to earth.

The 2025 Formula 1 campaign is widely regarded as one of McLaren’s most tense seasons in recent memory, with the team forced to manage an intense title battle between its own drivers while also fending off the constant challenge posed by Max Verstappen.

In the end, Norris emerged from the Abu Dhabi finale as world champion for the first time, edging out Verstappen by just two points in the final standings, while team-mate Piastri concluded the year in third place.

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Following that success, Norris and McLaren have embarked on somewhat of a victory tour, which has included an event at the team’s Woking headquarters as well as the FIA’s end-of-season awards ceremony in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Norris and Piastri humbled by Brown

Alongside Piastri and Norris up on stage, Brown jokingly claimed neither driver had better options than joining McLaren, and said: "I took big risks on both of you and don't pretend you had better options. You [Piastri] had f***ing Alpine and Lando had to go faster than Stoffel Vandoorne."

The crowd then burst into laughter and applause at Brown's sass, with both Piastri and Norris taking the dressing down with good humour - albeit if Norris was hugging his drivers' trophy a little tight.

Piastri famously was under the employ of Alpine before his F1 debut in 2023, who rather strangely announced his signing without...well... Piastri failing to sign anything. This then forced the Aussie to publish his own statement confirming he was not joining the team.

Observing Alpine's tenth place finish in the 2025 constructors' standings Piastri will be rather glad he didn't remain loyal to the team in the end, and instead put his faith in back-to-back world champions McLaren.

F1 McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Zak Brown