Zak Brown roasts Piastri and Norris in McLaren team celebration speech

McLaren CEO Zak Brown delivered a series of brutally honest and humorous jabs at drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri during the team's internal celebration of their historic 2025 championship season. The event, held at the McLaren Technology Centre, highlighted the team's unique culture of camaraderie and blunt honesty following their first double-title triumph since 1998.

Why it matters:

The speech offers a rare, unfiltered glimpse into the internal dynamics of a championship-winning team. Brown's jokes, which touched on driver contracts, past team struggles, and internal relationships, underscore a culture of high performance built on direct communication and mutual respect, rather than corporate formality. This environment is often cited as a key factor in McLaren's dramatic resurgence.

The details:

• Brown opened his roast by referencing the calculated risks McLaren took in building its current driver lineup, bluntly stating to Piastri, "You had f***ing Alpine," in reference to the driver's contentious 2022 contract saga.
• He turned to Norris and joked, "And you had to be faster than Stoffel Vandoorne," a nod to the early-career pressure Norris faced when joining the team.
• The CEO humorously claimed both drivers "idolise" him and call him "Big Daddy" behind his back, but admitted they are "scared shitless" of Team Principal Andrea Stella, highlighting Stella's authoritative role.
• Brown dared Piastri to mess up Norris's carefully styled hair on stage, a playful reference to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem doing the same at the official FIA Awards gala days earlier.

The big picture:

The celebration capped a rollercoaster season where Norris clinched his first Drivers' Championship by a mere two points in Abu Dhabi, and McLaren secured the Constructors' title with a dominant 364-point margin. Piastri, who led the championship for much of the year, finished third. The lighthearted roasting of painful moments—like the double disqualification in Las Vegas for plank wear that Piastri referenced in his own speech—signals a team confident enough to laugh at its own low points after achieving the ultimate success.

What's next:

With the 2025 titles secured, the focus immediately shifts to defending them in 2026. Brown's closing joke—"Then again, maybe we’ll be up here next year saying, 'f*** that guy'"—was a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of the relentless pressure and high standards that come with being the reigning champion. The challenge will be maintaining this winning chemistry and performance under the target that now sits squarely on McLaren's back.