Zak Brown shuts narrative about Oscar Piastri's 'boycott' during McLaren's title celebrations at Singapore GP

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has refuted the false media narrative that the team intentionally excluded Oscar Piastri from its constructors' championship celebrations after the Singapore GP in October. The race saw an early clash between the McLaren drivers.

Lando Norris, who started in P5, leapfrogged Kimi Antonelli for P4 before Turn 1, and in Turn 3, he attempted a bold overtake on teammate Oscar Piastri. However, the two made contact, and Norris benefited from it to secure P3 and eventually finish on the podium, while Piastri finished in P4.

The Australian driver was miffed that McLaren took no action against Norris and voiced his concern on team radio. Nonetheless, on the back of the 3-4 result, McLaren won the constructors' championship. However, when the entire team, including the senior leadership and the mechanics, celebrated on the podium, Piastri was nowhere to be seen. He was giving interviews in the media pen while his team celebrated their second consecutive constructors' title.

There were already conspiracy theories among fans that the Woking-based team was favoring Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri, and this incident added fuel to the fire. Zak Brown cleared the misunderstanding in a recent appearance on the High Performance podcast. He said [34:15 onwards]

"Singapore, we clinched the constructors' championship. Lando's on the podium, Oscar's in the media pen, which is down the road. Formula 1 impromptu says, 'Get the team up on the podium.' First thing when we got up there, Lando and I went, 'Man, Oscar's not up here. This is going to look terrible.'"

Elaborating on the unfavorable turn of events and the media narrative, Brown added:

"But like we know how that happened. He was in the media pen; this wasn't something planned. The first thing Lando and I said was, 'Ah! Where's Oscar?' But of course, the media narrative was Oscar's boycotting, we didn't want him there, and it was like, 'What are you talking about?'"

Zak Brown sets the record straight about Oscar Piastri's controversial team radio disconnection after the Singapore GP

Oscar Piastri in the media pen at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri's absence from the podium celebrations wasn't the only infamous moment of the team's time at the Singapore GP. When Piastri was on his in-lap to the pits after the race, he appeared to disconnect his team radio when Zak Brown was thanking him for his role in McLaren's second consecutive constructors' title win.

A clip of the moment went viral on social media, with fans claiming that the Aussie driver was entering his 'villain arc' after the lap 1 controversy. Brown also cleared the air about this situation on the aforementioned podcast, saying:

"When I was thanking Oscar on the radio, I didn't see where he was on the track, and he was in parc ferme in the process of shutting down the car. So when I was thanking him, it looked like he unplugged the, you know, like hung up the phone on me. It's not what happened. I didn't even notice it. And then you get all the 'Oscar's this and...' Oscar noticed it and went, 'Hey, make sure Zak knows I didn't hear him.' So, like, we got each other's back."

Oscar Piastri's recent string of subpar performances without podium finishes since the Italian GP in September has cost him the drivers' championship lead. He trails Lando Norris by 24 points with only three race weekends remaining in the 2025 F1 season. Reigning champion Max Verstappen sits 25 points behind him in P3.

Edited by Yash Kotak