‘We love ya’ – Untelevised Zak Brown, Oscar Piastri exchange emerges as Norris crowned champion
Zak Brown brought Oscar Piastri to McLaren ahead of the 2023 season
Untelevised team radio from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has revealed the moment McLaren boss Zak Brown hailed Oscar Piastri as “a star” after missing out on the F1 2025 title to Lando Norris.
Norris secured his maiden world championship in Abu Dhabi last weekend, finishing third behind Piastri and race winner Max Verstappen.
Zak Brown consoles Oscar Piastri over team radio after Lando Norris title triumph
The season finale saw Verstappen, the four-time world champion, fall short of Norris by just two points, with Piastri ending the year a further 11 points back.
Piastri enjoyed the biggest championship lead held by any driver all season, with the Australian holding a commanding 34-point advantage over Norris after the Dutch Grand Prix in late August.
However, Zandvoort proved to be Piastri’s final victory of the season with the 24-year-old scoring just one podium finish across the following seven rounds.
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Piastri’s late-season dip saw him lose the lead of the world championship to Norris at October’s Mexican Grand Prix, having led the way since the Saudi Arabian round in April.
McLaren has been accused in some quarters of favouring Norris over Piastri over the course of 2025, with some pointing to the team’s request for Piastri to swap positions with Norris after the latter suffered a slow pit stop at the Italian Grand Prix.
The debate even reached the floors of Australian politics last week, with a parliamentarian raising the question that “McLaren is biased against Oscar Piastri and costing him the world championship.”
Piastri responded by telling PlanetF1.com and other media outlets that it was “quite impressive” to see his name mentioned in Parliament in his homeland “regardless of [the reason] why.”
Brown and Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, have both denied favouring one driver over the other over the course of F1 2025 with the team operating with a policy of total fairness between Norris and Piastri.
And untelevised team radio from Abu Dhabi has uncovered the moment Brown sought to console Piastri after the Australian missed out on the title.
After crossing the finish line at Yas Marina, Piastri was informed by his race engineer, Tom Stallard, that Norris had secured the championship.
Stallard said: “Good job, Oscar. Obviously, that means Lando is world champion. I’m sure you’ve got some…”
An energetic Brown then appeared to interrupt Stallard, bursting on to the airwaves to say to his driver: “Oscar, what a season! What a season! You’re a star! Seven wins.
“We love ya. We do it again next year. Thank you, Oscar, for everything you’ve done. What a year.”
Piastri replied: “Yeah, thanks everyone. Well done to Lando.
“It’s a great season trying to beat each other, so congratulations and well done to everyone.
“Tried our best to get there, but it wasn’t quite to be, so well done everyone. Thank you.”
More on Oscar Piastri and McLaren from PlanetF1.com
Speaking after the race in Abu Dhabi, Piastri described Norris as “a very deserving winner” of the F1 2025 world championship.
Yet he insisted that his teammate is not “Superman”, outlining his confidence that the team will maintain its policy of “full fairness” in 2026 and beyond despite Norris’s lofty new status.
Piastri told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I think [Norris is] a very deserving winner.
“I know that every weekend I go on track, it’s going to be tough.
“We’ve pushed each other through the last three years, especially this season, it’s been tighter than ever.
“He’s had a great season.
“I think, probably all three of us, but obviously myself and Lando, in the same team and the same car, had our ups and downs at different moments.
“He’s obviously had a great season this year and a deserving champion.
“But he’s still Lando Norris. it’s not like he’s become Superman.
“I don’t think things will change. [I’m] expecting, obviously, full fairness from the team and equality going forward.
“I don’t have any concern that that will change at all. But Lando’s had a very strong season this year and, ultimately, did a better job.”
Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher
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