How Mark Webber feels behind the scenes about McLaren’s treatment of Oscar Piastri

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Oscar Piastri might feel after the Singapore Grand Prix that Mark Webber and his camp are the only people backing him to win the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship.

The Singapore Grand Prix saw McLaren clinch the constructors’ championship with double the points of their nearest rivals, Mercedes.

Lando Norris stood on the podium and celebrated with McLaren staff after the race.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri was exasperated in the media pen doing interviews after seeing his lead in the drivers’ championship cut to 22 points.

The Australian has been on the wrong side of several decisions in recent weeks, with Jolyon Palmer suggesting Piastri might be becoming paranoid with how many events have gone against him.

He was asked to give second place back to Norris after a slow pit stop at Monza, although Piastri was unsure whether that warranted a position swap on the team radio.

Norris was allowed to use the alternative strategy in Hungary after a slow start that eventually saw him take victory, much to the surprise of many in the paddock.

Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber, has been in this position before at Red Bull, up against Sebastian Vettel, and journalist and commentator James Allen has shared how the Australian will be feeling about this season’s intra-team battle.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Mark Webber is ‘definitely advocating’ for Oscar Piastri behind the scenes at McLaren

Allen was speaking on The Red Flags Podcast about Webber’s stance on McLaren’s recent decisions regarding Norris and Piastri.

He said: “I wouldn’t say Mark is irate, but I would say that he’s definitely on the case.

“He’s definitely across this, and he’s definitely advocating, as you say, because that’s his job to do that, right?

“And he does it, as you also mentioned, from the background of having been on the wrong side of this when he was at Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel. And perhaps he didn’t have anybody, maybe arguing his case, and maybe he wasn’t as strong as he wishes in retrospect that he had been against Vettel.

“So he’s kind of making sure that… I mean, Oscar’s pretty strong in the head anyway, but I think he’s just making sure that the stuff that Oscar doesn’t know about, which is how you can manage these team games, these relationships, he’s making sure that Oscar’s on the A-game and his case is being put as much as possible.

“But there’s a limited amount that he can do. I mean, he can only affect things so much at the end of the day. It’s down to Zak and Andrea, the management of McLaren, to decide if they’re going in any way to intervene.

“I don’t think he’s really asking for that. He’s just wanting fairness, right? So that’s all that he really wants to see.

“But you make a very, very good point, and he’s certainly not going to let anything slip through that shouldn’t slip through for sure.”

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Oscar Piastri’s Formula 1 future discussed after disappointing Singapore Grand Prix

Piastri goes into the final quarter of the season in arguably his worst form of the campaign.

After finishing ninth at his home race in Australia, Piastri finished on the podium at every race up until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix aside from his P4 in Canada.

However, Piastri only had himself to blame for crashing in Baku, and followed it up by finishing off the podium in Singapore after Norris’ forceful move on the opening lap.

This has led to speculation that the 24-year-old might be considering his future at McLaren.

Piastri has been linked with Ferrari, although whether the internal politics at Maranello would appeal to him is another matter.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown know they have their work cut out to keep Piastri and Norris in check.

It’s now up to Webber to fight Piastri’s corner behind the scenes during the run-in of the 2025 F1 season.