Zak Brown 'sensitive' to McLaren title talk as 'painful' moment nears

Oscar Piastri has revealed McLaren CEO Zak Brown is “sensitive” to title talk between his drivers as the season enters its final third.

Piastri currently sits 31 points ahead of team-mate Lando Norris in the drivers' standings, as both target clinching their first championship.

There has been little to separate the duo so far this year, with Piastri's strong lead largely a result of Norris' non-finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

With the battle being so close, one driver will be left bitterly disappointed at the end of the campaign by missing out on their maiden title, while watching their team-mate bask in the celebrations.

Piastri has admitted it is a topic that has been brought up already by McLaren management.

“We’ve spoken about it a little bit, I don't think it's a discussion and certainly not at the top of our list of important things,” Piastri told media including RacingNews365.

“We’re just trying to get a feel of what we would like.

“For one of us, it's going to be a pretty amazing time, and for the other, it's going to be pretty painful.

“The team and Zak are just very sensitive to that, which is nice.

“So we've spoken about a little bit, but I don't think it really needs much more conversation.”

Piastri is yet to finish a race outside the points this year, with his lowest result coming at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix where he took the chequered flag in ninth.

Having built up a strong lead with eight races to go, Piastri insisted he will not change his approach when it comes to battling Norris.

"The risk attitude, five races ago, [I] didn't know the championship picture was going to look like this,” he said.

“And if you took a different amount of risk either way, then the gap is going to be potentially smaller than what it is, could potentially be bigger. But I like to think that my approach to risk is pretty measured.

"So for me, that doesn't really change regardless of the championship situation."