Brown sees future title in Piastri's tank

McLaren CEO Zak Brown reckons Oscar Piastri won't be too disheartened after his teammate Lando Norris pipped him for a maiden World Championship title, insisting that the Australian is a future champion.

Piastri finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in second place behind Max Verstappen, but that wasn't enough to deny Norris the title. The Briton came home third, securing his first crown. Piastri wound up third overall in the standings, just 13 points behind his teammate at the end of a hard-fought 24-race season.

The result could well have been harder to take for the Australian than for Verstappen – who fell just two points short of Norris – given that Piastri led the championship for more races than anyone else. He enjoyed a 34-point lead over Norris after Zandvoort, which was the 15th race of the season.

But Brown is sure his driver will be back even stronger next year and sees no reason to change the status quo within McLaren of letting both drivers race each other week in, week out.

"He is a future World Champion. Both our guys won seven races, drove brilliantly, they supported each other," Brown said in the aftermath of Abu Dhabi. "It's a cruel sport, things sometimes go your way, sometimes they don't [in a way that's] out of your control but I'm excited to go racing with these two guys next year."

Piastri's season arguably began to unravel after Baku, a weekend where he failed to finish after crashing twice and jumping the start. That then led to a run of five races where he finished off the podium – allowing both Norris and Verstappen to catch and then pass him in the standings.

Piastri was swift to congratulate his team mate on Sunday.

And while he did not convert a sizeable championship lead into the title in 2025, Piastri at least came back fighting at the end of the season, winning the Sprint in Qatar, while he arguably should have had an eighth Grand Prix victory that weekend as well.

"I don't think [Piastri] 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," Brown said.

Norris admits he 'lost a little bit of belief early in the season'.

Brown is sure Piastri will come back fighting next season.

"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 1 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."

With seven wins apiece in 2025 and separated by just 13 points at the end of a 24-race season, all eyes will be on McLaren in 2026 to see which driver comes out on top in their intra-team fight.