Zak Brown slams McLaren’s Qatar GP strategy disaster: "We gave his win away"

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says the team “clearly made a huge mistake” by leaving Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris out under the Lap 7 safety car in Qatar

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has admitted the team "clearly made a huge mistake" with its strategy at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix, admitting that better results for both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were thrown away by the decision not to pit under the early safety car.

Piastri started from pole with his team-mate alongside him on the front row. While Red Bull's Max Verstappen was able to dispatch the Briton by Turn 1, Piastri was safely controlling the race for the first seven laps.

But contact between Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine's Pierre Gasly resulted in a safety car - something that McLaren failed to utilise. The team left its drivers out as all but one other driver pitted, including the reigning champion. This left both drivers out of sync on strategy, and as the race unfolded, Verstappen was able to take the win with Piastri finishing second and Norris finishing fourth.

Speaking to Sky Germany after the race, Brown didn't sugarcoat his thoughts.

“We clearly made a huge mistake. I think Oscar was absolutely impeccable all weekend. We gave his win away. I think it's the reality. There's no other way to look at it. And we gave Lando's podium away. Very frustrating,” he said.

“We clearly made the wrong call. Nothing we can do about it now other than learn from it. This is two weekends in a row with some big learnings. But we need to come back in Abu Dhabi and fight hard.

"We're leading the championship. Gave away some points for Oscar. So we need to not make these mistakes. It's obviously all a bit raw at the moment.”

Asked by Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg if the decision was influenced by the decision to be fair between their driver pairing, the Californian insisted that this wasn't the case.

“No, it was right on the line, lap 7. So I think we played it wrong. It bit us. Pretty painful to sit there and watch. But you win together, you lose together. We just come back strong in Abu Dhabi.”

He added, “No, there was no miscommunication. It was an evaluation issue. We'll obviously go back and look at it in more depth. But no, it wasn't a communication issue. That was a decision we'd made.”

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Dom Gibbons / LAT Images via Getty Images

While the CEO was seen hugging Piastri following the race, he's yet to carry out a debrief with his team.

“I want to go see the drivers and give them a big hug and a big apology. Not that that will make him feel better. It's not going to make me feel better. But we'll come back strong next weekend.”

With Verstappen taking his seventh win of the 2025 season this Sunday, Brown was quick to praise the driver. “He drove a great race. Obviously, Red Bull made the right decision. But we kind of handed that one to him. Not that he didn't do a great job," he said before turning the praise to his own driver.

“I think Oscar was so dialled in all weekend. He just seemed to be on another level. He did have a little bit of damage there when he went off halfway through the race. But I think that really didn't make a difference in the result.”

The championship now hinges on Abu Dhabi, where McLaren must execute cleanly to give their drivers a shot at victory.