23 September 2023 , 11:20
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Zak Brown offered to fly Oscar Piastri's mother to Japan after the Aussie racer secured the first front-row start of his fledgling Formula 1 career.
The F1 rookie has been turning heads all season with his performances in his first year in a full-time race seat. And he produced another impressive result for McLaren in qualifying at Suzuka on Saturday.
He was more than half-a-second adrift of pole-sitter Max Verstappen, but still closer than anyone else. He will line up alongside the Dutchman on Sunday and will have the chance to go toe-to-toe with the championship leader.
The result sparked a post online from his mother, Nicole, who has become a social media star for her quips about her son's career this year. "Anyone got a cheap flight to Japan?" she wrote after qualifying.
Sky Sports presenter Natalie Pinkham raised her request to Brown when speaking to him after the session. In response, the McLaren chief executive offered to help her to get to the Suzuka track to watch her son race.
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"I'm very happy to buy her airline tickets," he said with a smile. Looking directly into the TV cameras, he added: "So, if you can get here, Mrs. Piastri, we want to see you tomorrow!"
Clearly she saw what Brown had said as she returned to social media to write: "Thank you for the kind offer @ZBrownCEO, but I think it's best that I have my anxiety attack in the comfort of my own home. I do, however, intend to have mastered the art of meditation in time for the Vegas GP though..."
Speaking of Piastri's latest achievement, Brown said: "It's great [for the family], it's been a great year for him. He's done such a good job and there's such camaraderie inside the team and long may it continue. It's gonna get tough, these guys are gonna be racing each other hard."
He was referring to Piastri and his team-mate Lando Norris, who lines up just behind him in third for Sunday's race. They know it will be very tough to keep up with the Red Bull, but have the chance to work together to make something happen in the early stages of the Grand Prix.
"I'm very, very happy," beamed the 22-year-old. "Yesterday, we thought we could be in for a solid weekend. Then, this morning, we made some good changes and the car looked quick in FP3 and I was getting more used to the track too.
"So yeah, very, very happy to be on the front row. Of course, the gap [to Verstappen] is a little bit... or a lot bigger than I would prefer! But yeah, I'm happy to be in second... I'm just a little bit frustrated I didn't manage to improve on the second lap but, in the end, it didn't matter."