Zak Brown has noticed a big step in Oscar Piastri’s communication since joining McLaren

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has commended Oscar Piastri for the ‘positive’ change he’s seen in his communication since he started racing in Formula 1.

Oscar Piastri is going into a pivotal season in his Formula 1 career with McLaren.

After missing out on the drivers’ championship to Lando Norris last year, fans are waiting to see whether Piastri can make another step up heading into his fourth F1 campaign.

There have already been question marks over whether the new regulations will suit Piastri, but his success rising through the ranks of motor racing so quickly suggests that he’s very good at adapting to new cars and situations.

Zak Brown is desperate to keep the partnership of Piastri and Norris together after their brilliant performances over the past two years to win the constructors’ championship.

He’s now detailed the improvement he’s seen behind the scenes from the 24-year-old while explaining how important it is that McLaren have two number one drivers going forward.

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Zak Brown says Oscar Piastri has become ‘more outspoken internally’ at McLaren

Brown was being interviewed by Marshall Pruett on his YouTube channel, and when asked about Piastri, he said: “Oscar has grown a lot in communications in the sense that he was quite quiet. Just kind of gets on with it, but he became more outspoken internally in a positive way, I mean that.

“And then from a McLaren point of view, it still kind of surprises me like we got two number one drivers. Isn’t that what the fans want? Well, that’s what I want. I don’t want one and a two.

“First off, if you have a one and two, you’re not going to have two number ones. It was funny, over the course of the year, [at the] start of the year, Lando starts strong.

“People were telling me Oscar should just back Lando. Oscar kills it in the middle of the year.

“Everyone’s like, Lando should support Oscar. Look, it came down to, I think it was 13 points between the two of them. That’s like a third place over 24 races.

“I’m so happy we stuck to our racing principles, which is we’re going to let these guys race.

“And everyone went, ‘Yeah, but you might not win the championship like in 2007, where Lewis and Fernando tied.’

“We know that’s the downside. The downside of having a clear number one and number two is that whoever you decide is number two is gone. You’re not going to be able to recruit.”

READ MORE: Zak Brown wishes he had not seen what Red Bull did at the Barcelona shakedown test

Oscar Piastri’s work behind the scenes at McLaren continues to improve

Piastri might have seen his championship bid unravel towards the end of 2025, but that doesn’t mean his preparations changed in any way.

The more experience that Piastri has, the better at communicating he’ll become, and that might lead McLaren to develop the car to suit him more than Norris in the future.

Piastri was seen working in the McLaren garage late into the night last season, especially as he tried to understand where his pace advantage had gone.

The Australian driver is trying to find marginal gains wherever he goes, with Piastri adapting the makeup of his team behind the scenes this year.

He’ll know that this is the year that he needs to beat Norris to avoid his reputation mimicking the likes of Valtteri Bottas or Sergio Perez at Mercedes and Red Bull, respectively.