Autobayng News Team
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown thanked Oscar Piastri for being a “team player” after his team mate Lando Norris won the world championship.
Piastri finished the race in second position behind Max Verstappen. Norris took third, giving him enough points to secure the title.
Both McLaren drivers went into the final race with a chance to win the world championship. But with Piastri 16 points behind Norris before the race began, McLaren said they were prepared to use team orders to ensure they did not lose the title to Verstappen.
McLaren did not order Piastri to let Norris past in the race. He overtook Norris on the first lap, in what appeared to be a planned move, and ran a long first stint which allowed him to put pressure on Verstappen.
However with Norris secure in third, neither Piastri nor Verstappen was able to out-score him by enough points to prevent him winning the title.
Piastri, who led the points standings for the majority of the season, said he was proud of his efforts this year despite failing to take the title
“I knew that going into today I needed the stars to align to win the championship,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “Ultimately I tried my best, put myself in the best position I could to try and win the race and give myself the best opportunity but it wasn’t to be.
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“I think we can be very proud of the season we’ve had. On a personal level, obviously it’s not quite the ending that I wished for. But I think when you look at the season as a whole I’m very proud of the work that I’ve been able to put in, that my team’s been able to put in and to make so much progress from last year.”
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He led Norris by 34 points after the Dutch Grand Prix. At the next round at Monza he obeyed an instruction by the team to hand second place to Norris. The three points Norris gained as a result ultimately proved critical as he won the title by two.
After the final race McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown came on Piastri’s radio twice (see below) and thanked him for being a “team player”.
Piastri endured a poor run of races towards the end of the year, notably in Baku, Austin, Mexico and Interlagos, where he lost a significant amount of points to Norris and Verstappen. He said he was pleased his performances improved over the final rounds.
“It is nice to end the last couple of weekends on a relative high, certainly from a performance point of view individually,” said Piastri. “It was nice to find some form again because it would have been pretty painful to end it on the note that Austin, Mexico and Brazil went to.
“But ultimately [there was] ups and downs through the year, I will look back on the ups with a lot of pride and joy and look on the downs with plenty of lessons learnt. So there’s plenty more years left to go and hopefully plenty more opportunities.”
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Piastri’s radio messages at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
| Stallard | Chequered flag, Oscar. Well done, mate. Good race. Good race. So Oscar, recharge on, recharge on and ACS off, please. Recharge on and ACS off. Pick up, pick up rubber wherever you can. Pick up rubber. So good job Oscar. Obviously that means Lando is world champion. I’m sure you got some… |
| Zak Brown | Oscar, what a season. What a season. You’re a star. Seven wins. We love ya. We’ll do it again next year. Thank you, Oscar, for everything you’ve done. What a year. |
| Piastri | Yeah, thanks everyone. Well done to Lando. It’s been a great season trying to beat each other, so congratulations, well done to everyone in the team, fantastic season. Thanks for all the work. We tried our best to get there but it wasn’t quite to be so well done everyone, thank you. |
| Stallard | Yeah. Well done to you Oscar as well. I mean, to be honest, from where we were last year, the season you’ve put together’s pretty impressive. So we go away, there’s a few wounds to lick. |
| Zak Brown | Oscar, very proud of you. Awesome. What a team player. We go again next year. See you on the podium. |
| Piastri | Thanks, Zak. |
| Stallard | So Oscar, you’re going to the grid. Going to the grid. |
| Piastri | Okay. |
| Stallard | Forwards and near the back, Oscar, forwards and near the back. |
| Stallard | Well done again, mate. Good job. Good job today. |
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2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Norris proud he has ‘won the title my way, trying to be a good person’
- Verstappen explains why he didn’t try to back up Norris into other cars
- Tsunoda complains stewards gave him a ‘strange penalty – as usual for them’
- Verstappen hits out at suggestion his collision with Russell cost him the title
- Verstappen says losing title by two points “looks painful” but he’s “not too sad”
