Zak Brown lands savage foul-mouthed Alpine dig at Oscar Piastri

McLaren boss Zak Brown couldn’t resist a savage takedown of Oscar Piastri's ex-F1 employer, Alpine.

Speaking at McLaren’s end-of-season party after securing both the drivers’ and constructors’ F1 world championships, CEO Brown landed brutal jokes about Alpine and one of his former drivers, Stoffel Vandoorne.

Brown first had a dig at Alpine, who were caught up in a messy legal saga involving McLaren to land the services of Piastri for the 2023 season.

The matter went to F1's Contract Recognition Board, who ruled that the then reigning F2 champion had a valid contract with McLaren, and Piastri subsequently went on to make his grand prix debut with the Woking squad.

“We took big risks on both of you, and don’t pretend you had better options,” Brown said.

“You had f***ing Alpine,” he said, pointing at Piastri, before turning to Lando Norris and continuing: “And you had to be faster than Stoffel Vandoorne.”

The latter joke was a reference to the fact Norris replaced the struggling Vandoorne for the 2019 F1 season.

Vandoorne only managed to score 12 points while teammate Fernando Alonso bagged 50 despite McLaren’s uncompetitive machinery.

McLaren slumped to sixth place in that year’s constructors’ championship.

Vandoorne would go on to switch to Formula E and won the all-electric championship with Mercedes in 2022.

McLaren had much to celebrate in 2025 as they successfully defended their constructors’ championship, while Norris clinched his maiden drivers’ title.

Brown has had a pop at Alpine before

It is not the first time Brown has landed a dig at Alpine’s behalf.

Back in 2022, Brown said then Alpine chief Otmar Szafnauer was made to look “a little silly” over comments he made publicly at the time of the Piastri contract saga.

"Before the CRB ruling, they didn't know what they didn't know and we kept our mouths shut deliberately,” Brown said at the time.

"Now that ruling has come out and some of the detail, I think it's clear what happened there.

"So we recognised there was a lot of noise, but we knew the truth would come out eventually and we could ride it out, as opposed to giving a running commentary.

"At the time we were not oblivious to the noise and some of the direct message notes I got from fans. But now we're very comfortable that the CRB ruling has come out, and that's very clear there."