One 2025 F1 title fighter ‘doesn’t need to pick himself up’ after defeat

McLaren Formula 1 team boss Zak Brown says Oscar Piastri doesn’t “need to pick himself up” after narrowly missing out on the 2025 title to team-mate Lando Norris.

McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked horns throughout the 24-race campaign, with just 13 points separating them after Abu Dhabi, as the former lifted his first world title.

Winning seven races apiece, Piastri served as the championship favourite for the first half of the season, before a slump in the second half between Azerbaijan and Sao Paolo derailed his charge.

Speaking after the Abu Dhabi finale, team boss Zak Brown was full of praise for the job Piastri did in 2025 and has backed him as a future world champion.

“He is a future world champion,” Brown said.

“Both our guys won seven races, drove brilliantly, they supported each other.

“It’s a cruel sport, things sometimes go your way, sometimes they don’t, [that’s] out of your control, but I'm excited to go racing with these two guys next year.

“I don't think he needs to pick himself up.

“He should be proud. He won seven races, led the championship.

“Of course, he'll be disappointed, but I don't think there's anything he needs to pick himself up from. I think he just needs to go again.

“I think we've learnt a lot this year, but as far as letting our guys race, we let them race all the way down to the end, including Oscar doing a pass around the outside [on Norris on lap one in Abu Dhabi].

“So, we're definitely going to continue with that, but I think, like you do every weekend, you learn, you refine.

“We'll work with the drivers and go, we'll give you equal opportunities or things you want to do differently and the way you do that.

“We've got two guys capable of winning the world championship; we'll see what happens next year.”

Norris’ title marks McLaren’s first since 2008, when Lewis Hamilton was world champion.