‘Absolutely furious’: Oscar Piastri hug broken down by behaviour expert

A behaviour expert has revealed what Oscar Piastri was really thinking during his awkward exchange with McLaren boss Zak Brown.

Robert White and Matthew Sullivan

3 min read

December 1, 2025 - 3:43PM

There was no hiding Oscar Piastri’s heartbreak at the Qatar Grand Prix after a strategic failure by McLaren cost him crucial points in the standings, leaving him facing an almost impossible challenge to win the drivers’ championship.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown made a beeline to Piastri after the race, offering a handshake and an embrace before the Aussie had even taken his helmet off.

Piastri patted Brown on the back and then while the driver was doing his post-race interviews, Brown embraced him and whispered a few words of encouragement in his ear.

Piastri didn’t seem too keen to reciprocate the hug and the embrace, which made for some awkward viewing.

Asked what Brown said to him, Piastri said he offered an apology, adding: “I can’t ask for more than that.”

According to leading behaviour expert Dr Louise Mahler, Piastri’s reaction to Brown’s post-race embrace was unusually expressive for a driver typically known for his icy calm.

“My understanding of these drivers is that they’re almost psychopathic in their approach, in that they don’t have a shock response,” Dr Mahler told news.com.au.

“He’s normally very calm and doesn’t show any reaction, so what he’s doing here is an incredible reaction, he must be absolutely furious.”

Dr Mahler said that although Piastri attempted a brief polite smile, his body language immediately shifted.

Behavioural expert Dr Louise Mahler believes Piastri would have been ‘absolutely furious’. Picture: Supplied

“He won’t reciprocate the hug, and then he’s looking bottom left, which is often seen as addressing internal emotional voices. He’s discussing angry thoughts with himself.

“He turns away and bears his bottom teeth, which is enormous aggression. Then he grabs his throat which is a depiction of anxiety. He grabs his hat again anxiety, a lot of twitches of anxiety and anger as he continues on. That’s what I see.”

Dr Mahler said the dominant emotions were anger and frustration; understandable considering Piastri likely just farewelled his F1 drivers’ championship hopes.

“He normally does nothing. He’s normally totally calm. So he’s totally out of control for this one. Very different,” she said.

Oscar Piastri started Monday morning’s race in Qatar on pole position and was out in the lead when a Nico Hulkenberg crash triggered a Safety Car on lap 7.

Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz stand on the podium the Formula One Qatar Grand Prix Picture: Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP

With F1 mandating two pit stops for the race, Max Verstappen and Red Bull made the smart call by coming into the pits for a “free” pit stop under the Safety Car, but McLaren chose to keep Piastri and Lando Norris out on track while the rest of the grid pitted.

It proved to be a costly call that left Piastri scrambling to chase down a massive deficit after McLaren effectively gave Verstappen a huge advantage knowing they still needed to pit twice in the 57-lap race.

With McLaren hoping they had enough pace to make up the gap, Piastri did his best to chase down Verstappen but finished second, 10 seconds behind the Dutchman, while Norris finished fourth.

The Australian was left fuming after being the fastest driver all weekend only for a strategy call to cost him the victory as crucial points went begging.

The result means Verstappen is now just 12 points behind Norris, who still leads the championship heading to Abu Dhabi with a 16-point buffer on Piastri.

The Aussie’s celebrations on the podium were muted and you get the sense he knows he missed out on a golden chance to rocket back into title contention heading into the season finale.