Zak Brown reveals what Lando Norris told him when Oscar Piastri was missing from Singapore GP podium

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McLaren have wrapped up the constructors’ championship for the second consecutive season and look set to complete their first double since 1998.

Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship by 24 points with three rounds remaining, with only Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in contention to ruin their celebrations.

However, McLaren enjoyed winning the constructors’ championship with six race weekends remaining, scoring the necessary points at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The race had its fair share of controversy, as Norris clashed with Piastri on the opening lap, but avoiding immediate punishment from Zak Brown and the rest of the team.

Norris finished on the podium with Piastri coming home in P4, but a now infamous image shows McLaren celebrating their championship win on the rostrum while the Australian is doing his media duties in the pen.

Brown has now shared what Norris immediately said on the podium in Piastri’s absence, and explained a supposed snubbing of a radio message he sent the 24-year-old at the conclusion of the race.

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Zak Brown shares what Lando Norris told him after Oscar Piastri was missing from the Singapore GP podium

Brown was speaking about the incident on the High Performance Podcast, and he said: “This is how strong I think we are as a team because we also know when we see something, we’ll bring it to each other’s attention.

“In Singapore, we clinch 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.

“But like we know how that happened. He’s in the media pen; this wasn’t something planned. So, we get up there and do it.

“And the first thing Lando and I said was, “Ah man, like, 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?”

“And then 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, like he hung up the phone on me. It’s not what happened. I didn’t even notice it.

“Oscar noticed it. And went, Hey, make sure Zak knows, I didn’t hear him. So like, we got each other’s backs.

“We care what each other thinks. And so Oscar, when I went, ‘Hey, make sure Oscar knows this is how this happened on the podium.’

“And he went, “Yeah, I figured it out.” And then he kind of reciprocated, and said, ‘Hey, make sure Zak knows I didn’t hang up the phone.’”

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Piastri has to make up a 24-point deficit in the final three races of the season to try and win his first drivers’ championship.

The timing of the podium incident in Singapore was unfortunate, and Brown’s explanation makes complete sense, alongside Piastri’s supposed snub of his radio message after the race.

McLaren have witnessed Piastri make several mistakes in recent races, such as his chaotic weekend in Azerbaijan, hitting Norris during the Sprint Race in Austin and then crashing during the Sprint event at Interlagos.

It has left him on the back foot in an incredibly closely fought title battle, and he’s now relying on Norris making mistakes of his own to put himself back in contention.

Otherwise, it will be a case of hoping McLaren are equally competitive in 2026 and beyond to avoid feeling like he’s missed his only chance of winning a Formula 1 championship.