McLaren CEO Zak Brown is “convinced” Oscar Piastri will avenge his title loss to Lando Norris in 2025 to become a Formula 1 champion with McLaren at some point.
Piastri came up short in the Drivers’ Championship despite beating his team-mate in the last race, as third place in Abu Dhabi was enough to see Norris seal the deal.
The McLaren duo were embroiled in a season-long scrap, one in which Piastri held the upper hand longer than Norris, leading the standings at 15 consecutive rounds.
Piastri even retained a 34-point advantage when he won at Zandvoort in August, but that would prove to be the final time the Australian stood on the top step in 2025.
The Australian’s collapse contained a six-race run without a podium as mistakes and general pace struggles allowed both Norris and Max Verstappen to surpass him.
But Brown, who expressed pride at the cordial relationship between his two drivers surviving a close title duel, harbours no doubt that Piastri is a champion in waiting.
“Oscar is going to be a World Champion,” Brown told media including Motorsport Week. “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 [than Norris], we still took a risk on both our drivers. Both times they drove a Formula 1 car, it was a McLaren.
“For a big team to take a risk on young drivers feels very rewarding.
“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.
“They’ve both been a little grumpy with Andrea [Stella, McLaren Team Principal] 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.”
Norris envisages roles reversal at McLaren in the future
Likewise, Norris, who has been team-mates with Piastri since 2023, revealed that he is anticipating the roles being reversed at the Woking-based squad down the line.
“I feel like I’m a better driver now, certainly, than I was at the beginning of the season,” the Briton said.
“When I’m racing against Oscar, a guy who at some point in the future will probably beat me and be a World Champion, I’m performing.
“I’m having to perform against the best in the world and I look forward to plenty more times like that.
“I need to understand what I can do better, how can I do better, how can I perform more consistently against them and learn from them?
“I feel like I did that this year, and I’ve got to do that even more next year if I want to retain what we’ve been able to achieve this year.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri vows F1 title hasn’t made Lando Norris ‘Superman’
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