Brown Shuts Down Oscar Piastri Red Bull Rumors With McLaren Stand
Zak Brown shut down the oscar piastri red bull rumors at the Miami Grand Prix, saying McLaren has zero intention of changing its current driver line-up. He said he could not be happier with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after being asked whether Gianpiero Lambiase’s move to McLaren could open a future path for Max Verstappen.
Brown backs Norris and Piastri
“I couldn’t be happier with our driver line-up,” Brown said. He added: “Lando [Norris] and Oscar [Piastri] are not only two awesome guys, on the track, off the track, but as team mates, which is so much I think what’s made McLaren successful here – [it's] the chemistry that we have in the garage, at the factory, with our pit wall, all throughout the racing team.”
Brown then made the line-up call even clearer. “I couldn’t be happier with what we have, and zero intention in changing,” he said. That leaves Norris and Piastri as McLaren’s pair for now, with both drivers already tied to the team on multi-year deals.
Lambiase and Verstappen
The speculation came after McLaren announced in the April break in 2026 that Gianpiero Lambiase will join the team in 2028 as chief racing officer. Lambiase will leave Red Bull when his contract expires in 2028, ending a run that began in 2016 when he became Verstappen’s race engineer after the Dutch driver’s promotion to Red Bull.
Verstappen said he was “very happy for him” and described the chemistry they have built as “very rare in racing.” Brown, though, drew a line between that move and McLaren’s roster. “He’s an awesome racing driver, so if a gap opened up that’s a different conversation, of course,” he said.
Verstappen and a gap
Brown also widened the lens by pointing to other elite drivers, saying: “When you see the talent that he has, yeah, and if you were looking for a racing driver, I think there are a lot of great racing drivers out there. Charles Leclerc’s doing an amazing job, it’s great to see Lewis [Hamilton] back on form. Kimi [Antonelli]'s doing a great job, George [Russell] is a great driver, but look at what Kimi is doing here.”
He finished by returning to the same point. “I almost kind of feel like he’s the championship favourite, sitting here at the moment, but we see how quickly things swing in this sport. But yeah, I’m happy with what I’ve got, so I hope I’m not looking for a driver.” For McLaren, the message was direct: Norris and Piastri remain the plan, and the Verstappen talk stays hypothetical unless the grid changes first.
