Zak Brown sets the record straight about seeming 'fallout' between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

As McLaren enters the final stretch of the 2025 F1 season with both of its drivers in the title fight, Zak Brown has pushed back on growing speculation that the team was dealing with internal tension. Speaking ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the McLaren CEO made it clear that despite the on-track clashes, off-track pressure, and a resurgent Max Verstappen closing ground, there has been “no fallout” between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

McLaren’s dominance in the first half of the year, 12 wins and seven 1-2 finishes in the first 15 rounds, gave way to a far more fragile run after the summer break. The first flashpoint came in Canada, where contact between the teammates ended Norris’ race. In Singapore, a wheel-banging start made Norris face renewed questions about team control. The tension peaked again at the COTA Sprint, where both drivers tangled at Turn 1 and retired on the opening lap.

Those moments fueled a perception that McLaren’s “free to race” policy had gone too far, especially as Piastri’s comfortable lead disappeared. He stood on the podium in 14 of the first 16 races but has finished outside the top three in the last five. His run of three consecutive fifth-place finishes, along with a Sprint DNF in Brazil, has dropped him from 24 points ahead of Norris to 34 behind.

When Brown was asked how a team could manage two championship-contending drivers, keep Verstappen at bay, and avoid an internal blow-up this late in the year, he said in the High Performance interview:

“There hasn’t even been a fallout... Not between them. Not once. You know when you can walk into a room and feel the tension? Not once. Even when they’ve touched, they may not have been totally aligned around what Andrea (Stella) and I and the team have come up with kind. But they've never gone, ‘Lando did that, Oscar did that.” (0:10 onwards)

Zak Brown explained that any frustration usually goes toward the pit wall, himself and team principal Andrea Stella, not toward each other.

“Anytime they get grumpy, it’s a little bit toward me and Andrea because we’re trying to be fair and balanced. And the fact that they’ve both been a little bit grumpy towards us tells you things have been fair and balanced—we’re trying to make sure they race clean.”

That balance has been tested repeatedly. Zak Brown, though, continues to classify the incidents the same way.

“All the incidents they’ve had, which isn’t that many, have been racing incidents at the end of the day. We just want the championship decided on the track, not through that.”

With three Grands Prix and one Sprint left - Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi - the fight remains a three-way tussle. Lando Norris leads with 390 points, followed by Piastri on 366 and Verstappen on 341.

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Zak Brown doubles down on trust between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris: “We talk about the elephant in the room all the time”

McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, and Team Principal Andrea Stella at Marina Bay Street Circuit. Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri’s recent downturn and Lando Norris’ return to form with back-to-back wins in Mexico and Brazil have sharpened the title picture. Still, Zak Brown insisted that McLaren’s structure was built to withstand exactly this type of stress.

“I think we’re lucky with the two drivers we have,” he added in the interview. (1:07 onwards) “I’m not sure that Andrea and I and the team would be able to manage other drivers the way we can Oscar and Lando. A lot of credit is due to who they are as individuals.”

He added that transparency has kept the dynamic stable.

“We talk about the elephant in the room all the time. We've massive communication, transparency... They have a tremendous amount of trust with us because we've never broken their trust. We have a tremendous amount of trust with them because they've never broken our trust.”

McLaren has navigated drama before. Zak Brown pointed to Abu Dhabi last year, when the championship swung on a single pit stop margin of seven-tenths. He expects similar moments in the next three rounds but believes the team’s approach will remain the same.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam