Mark Webber knew Oscar Piastri would be a 2025 title contender after what he saw in pre-season testing

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Oscar Piastri has had a meteoric rise in Formula 1 as he finds himself leading the championship at the halfway point of the 2025 season.

Back in 2022, the Aussie’s prospects in F1 looked uncertain. Piastri entered a contract dispute with Alpine after they announced he would be racing for them in 2023 without his knowledge.

The ensuing chaos allowed him to join McLaren and partner with Lando Norris for 2023. Piastri brushed aside the drama to win the Rookie of the Year award and finish ninth in the standings, but he was largely outperformed by his teammate, 17-5 in races and 15-7 in qualifying.

McLaren took a huge step forward in 2024 as they won the constructors’ championship, with Piastri winning two races. However, Norris again got the better of him (16-8 in races, 20-4 in qualifying), but that has changed dramatically in 2025.

With six wins, four pole positions and 12 podiums, the Aussie has turned a corner and leads the championship by nine points over his teammate. Norris and Piastri are level-pegging in the intra-team battle, but the latter has made significant changes which were first noticed in pre-season.

Mark Webber told Robert Doornbos about Oscar Piastri’s ‘unbelievable’ changes in pre-season testing

A key factor in Piastri becoming a title contender is the guidance from his manager Mark Webber. The former Red Bull driver knows from experience how to handle a championship battle, having narrowly missed out on the title in 2010.

Webber is using his old battles with Lewis Hamilton to help Piastri in his bid to dethrone Max Verstappen and fight his teammate, and it is paying dividends. He noticed ‘unbelievable’ changes during pre-season in Bahrain, as Robert Doornbos recalled via The Pit Talk podcast

“I think the team also looks at that, considering that three years ago, Oscar wasn’t certain about his Formula 1 future. And now he really, every year, steps up,” he said.

“When I spoke to Mark Webber, I spoke to him in pre-season testing in Bahrain. He told me, he said OP really stepped up already.

“Mentally, working with his engineers, going to the factory, doing the simulator work and knowing what his weaknesses are.

“And that’s the whole thing about being a professional athlete. If you can know where your weaknesses are, or not only as an athlete, also as an entrepreneur, you can make a difference.

“You can work on these areas or you can let your team cover those areas so you can focus on your good parts. And I think all in all, Oscar became an unbelievable driver and really, multi-championship winning material. But he still has to deliver.”

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Oscar Piastri has shown Mark Webber exactly why he is leading the championship – but he must keep his cool

What Webber saw from Piastri in winter testing has been vindicated by his performances in 2025. He has clearly shown him why he is leading the championship, with stronger qualifying pace and not giving anything away to his rivals.

Webber’s comments about Piastri’s post-race behaviour highlight why he is at the top, as regardless of the result, he resets and prepares for the next event. It is proving to be the right approach, but recent frustrations may be getting to him.

Norris has closed the gap in the last four races, collecting three wins. Two of those saw Piastri in unfortunate circumstances, with a 10-second time penalty denying him victory at Silverstone and Norris’ one-stop strategy in Budapest gave him the edge over the Aussie’s two-stop.

Juan Pablo Montoya has noticed Piastri is more heated at McLaren after recent races. He is determined to beat Norris at all costs, and those defeats will have angered him somewhat.

Zak Brown likes to ‘break the ice’ with Piastri when things do not go his way. The 24-year-old has the right support around him, but he must keep his cool to keep the charging Norris behind him.