Oscar Piastri: Zak Brown relationship ‘only stronger’ after ‘tough moments’ in 2025

Oscar Piastri says his relationship with McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has “only gotten stronger” as a result of “some tough moments” in F1 2025. 

Piastri recorded his first podium finish of the F1 2026 season at the recent Japanese Grand Prix, where he finished second to Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli.

Oscar Piastri: Relationship with Zak Brown ‘very good’

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The Australian’s return to the podium came as a welcome boost after a luckless start to the campaign, which saw him fail to start the opening two rounds in Melbourne and China.

Piastri missed out on the 2025 title following a patchy end to last season, which saw a 34-point lead turn into a final deficit of 12 in his battle with McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

McLaren was accused by some of favouring Norris in last year’s championship battle with the matter even reaching the floors of parliament in Australia.

Oscar Piastri vs Lando Norris: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Brown was also forced to deny claims that he was personally not in favour of the signing of Piastri from Alpine in 2022 during McLaren’s legal case against former reserve driver and IndyCar champion Alex Palou.

Piastri says his relationship with Brown has grown stronger the longer the pair have worked together, with the ups and downs of last season only bringing them closer together.

Put to him that Brown “became a bit of a villain” in Australia during 2025, Piastri told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “My relationship with Zak is very good and it’s gotten stronger the longer we’ve known each other.

“He’s certainly good fun and it’s good to have around. Him and Andrea [Stella, team principal] are two people with very different styles that work well together.

“The relationship between Zak and I is good.

“As a team, we obviously had some tough moments through last year, as any team has, but I think our relationship has only gotten stronger from that.”

Piastri’s comments come after Brown earlier this year aired his disappointment with the comments made by “pretty far removed” politicians in Australia.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I think fans – put aside countries – all have various opinions in sport.

“It can be frustrating when some people – and again, this isn’t country specific – are very uninformed and the statements you see are just ridiculous.

“But I don’t think that’s territory specific.

“I think, as Oscar has communicated many times, he knows he’s getting a fair shake at it. You win some you lose some. Things fall your way, things don’t fall your way.

“We lost Oscar some points [in 2025], we lost Lando a lot of points [with his DNF] in Holland, etcetera.

“I think we just need to keep our head down, stay focused and the people that matter most to us know that we bring total sporting fairness to our racing team, our papaya fans and our sponsors, family and friends.

“It’s a shame that people in parliament, who I would say are pretty far removed from understanding Formula 1, vocalise things like that.

“I wouldn’t dare, because I’m not knowledgeable, comment on the job they’re doing.

“But I bet I can make some comments.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch

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