Oscar Piastri admits there’s ‘less and less’ for Mark Webber to do now that he’s ‘more experienced’

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Oscar Piastri says Mark Webber’s role has ‘naturally’ reduced as the McLaren driver becomes more independent.

Webber and his wife, Ann Neal, helped Piastri reach F1 with McLaren after finding a way out of his Alpine contract. The former Red Bull driver was a visible presence in the paddock during his compatriot’s early years.

But this year, Webber has taken a step back as part of a management reshuffle. Piastri addressed their relationship on the High Performance podcast.

Oscar Piastri now has the ‘answers’ that Mark Webber used to provide

Piastri says Webber proved his worth at the start of his career by asking all the right questions on his behalf.

But by the end of this year – his fourth F1 season – Piastri will hit 90 Grand Prix starts. In 2023, the rookie was the youngest driver on the grid, but now he’s older than six of his competitors.

Does Oscar Piastri still need Mark Webber at McLaren?

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Now that he’s more experienced, he’s less reliant on Webber, even if he’s grateful for his support up to this point.

“The relationship’s good,” said Piastri. “Mark is very thorough. When I first got into F1, Mark would come out with questions and ideas that hadn’t even entered my brain. I would hear him say it and go, ‘How am I ever going to think of that?’

“I think, just with experience, I’m still learning, but now, starting my fourth year, I have either the answers to a lot of those questions that I wouldn’t have had, or I know the questions to keep asking.

• READ MORE: David Coulthard says Mark Webber stepping back from Oscar Piastri role was ‘inevitable’

“There’s naturally less and less for Mark to do on the racing side of things, the more experienced I become.

“Especially in the first couple of years, there’s some lessons you have to learn the hard way, I’m sure there could have been plenty of other slightly annoying or tough lessons to learn that I was probably spared because of Mark’s experience and guidance.”

The dramatic rumours about Oscar Piastri and Mark Webber at McLaren

Piastri brought his F2 engineer Pedro Matos into his circle this year, reflecting a change of emphasis. He also continues to work with performance coach Emma Murray.

Under the new arrangement, Webber and Neal manage Piastri’s commercial affairs.

There were rumours that McLaren put pressure on Piastri to change management after a tense 2025 season where team orders were a major talking point.

Indeed, it has even been claimed that Webber wanted Piastri to leave McLaren at the end of the year. The driver himself has put forward a different, far less explosive version of events.