Zak Brown hints winning a title with Oscar Piastri is his last objective at McLaren

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Oscar Piastri needs to win a world championship to tick the last objective off Zak Brown’s checklist at McLaren.

McLaren won the constructors’ title in 2024, their first of the 21st century, and then followed that up with Lando Norris’ drivers’ championship win last year. Norris was the team’s first champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

Piastri led the standings for much of the season and was 34 points clear of Norris with 10 races remaining, but ultimately finished 13 points behind in third after losing his way down the stretch.

Will Oscar Piastri win a world championship as a McLaren driver?

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Zak Brown says his dream is to have two world champion drivers after Lando Norris’ title

In an interview with The Athletic, Brown said his dream is to ‘be a world championship team racing with two world championship drivers’ and acknowledged that they were ‘halfway there’ after Norris’ triumph.

McLaren have been linked with Max Verstappen recently after acquiring his long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase (for 2028), but Brown has reiterated his belief that they already have the best driver line-up in F1, and a duo capable of making the difference.

“The first thing on your shopping list is the best drivers in the world,” he said. “Yes, you’ve got to give them the equipment to get the job done, but I think the sport is so close, even if you have the best car, you’re not going to have an advantage where you’re not going to not need the best driver line-up to win the championship.

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“In all of our racing series, the number one goal is the best driver line-up that you can get. I wouldn’t trade ours for any other combination on the grid.”

McLaren arguably should have sealed the drivers’ title earlier last season given their considerable advantage over Red Bull for much of the year. But their drivers were so closely matched that they constantly took points off one another, and the team’s execution was questionable at times.

That allowed Verstappen to mount a staggering comeback from 104 points behind and eventually finish just two adrift of Norris.

Zak Brown reacts to Red Bull’s interest in Oscar Piastri

McLaren’s links with Verstappen come as Red Bull reportedly eye Piastri.

Verstappen is considering his future in F1 as a whole, but an exit clause in his contract could also come into play if he’s outside the top two in the standings in August, which is why Red Bull are making contingency plans.

“I would imagine there’s not a team on the grid that wouldn’t want to have Oscar and Lando driving for them,” a relaxed Brown said in response to the rumours.

Both McLaren drivers still have multiple years to run on their contracts, which include extension options. But Brown added that he wants Piastri and Norris to feel committed beyond ‘a piece of paper’.

In a recent interview on the team’s channels, 2023 signing Piastri said he wants to stay at McLaren long-term.

A world championship is unlikely this year, but not impossible. Having failed to start the first two races, Piastri is currently 57 points behind Kimi Antonelli.