McLaren may have celebrated Lando Norris’ long-awaited coronation in Abu Dhabi, but team boss Zak Brown made sure the sport didn’t forget the other half of the papaya garage.
Oscar Piastri fell short in 2025, but in Brown’s eyes, the Australian’s own championship moment isn’t a question of if – only when.
Piastri spent much of the season dictating the title fight, leading the standings from early spring to late autumn, and even holding a 34-point cushion after the Dutch Grand Prix.
But a bruising post-summer lapse that included a crash in Baku, lacklustre weekends in Singapore and Mexico, and a winless final nine races opened the door for Norris’ late charge.
Yet for Brown, the drawback is merely growing pains for a future champion, one forged by raw pace, resilience, and a rivalry that has propelled McLaren back to the sharp end of the grid.
Brown: ‘Oscar is going to be a world champion’
Speaking after Norris sealed the title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday evening, Brown made his belief in Piastri unequivocal.
“Oscar is going to be a world champion,” Brown said. “I'm convinced he's going to be a world champion in a McLaren. While we got him a little bit later in his career, we still took a risk on both our drivers.
“Both times they drove a Formula 1 car, it was a McLaren.”
Brown emphasised the satisfaction of proving critics wrong by allowing two equal drivers to thrive.
“For a big team to take a risk on young drivers feels very rewarding,” he added.
“To be able to have two number one drivers against all odds, all the noise that we've had for so long that it's impossible to do what we did, which is have two awesome racing drivers that won seven races each, that genuinely enjoy racing each other and are a treat to work with. They've never had an odd exchange between them.”
The competitive tension, he added, was directed only at the people running the show.
“They've both been a little grumpy with Andrea and I from time to time, but I think that's good. We're pushing each other hard and it's just such an accomplishment. I'm very proud and looking forward to doing it again,” the McLaren chief said.
A Rivalry Defined by Razor-Thin Margins
Team principal Andrea Stella backed Brown’s assessment – and pushed it a step further.
“Effectively, we could have had two champions this year,” Stella told Sky F1. “The gap between the two was so small and I said after [Abu Dhabi] qualifying that the, I think [the gap] was 30 milliseconds, that was the whole story of a season.”
Oscar Piastri with his manager Mark Webber on the grid at the Abu Dhabi GP.
That razor-thin margin, Stella said, defined the Piastri – Norris duel.
“30 milliseconds in qualifying, always so close on track, very close on lap one. As you said, some tense situations from that point of view, but always resolved for the best,” he said.
Despite Piastri’s rough patches, Stella saw a level of development that screamed champion calibre.
“Oscar was a worthwhile champion and he was worthwhile champion [in his] third season in Formula 1,” the Italian commented. “He learned so rapidly, he had a couple of races where he struggled a bit in the famous low grip tracks.”
“He learned very rapidly what to do. He became immediately competitive again. His trajectory is phenomenal and definitely, we have a future multiple world champion in Oscar.”
If Norris lit up the 2025 season, McLaren clearly believe Piastri is the one who could dominate the next.
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