Oscar Piastri reveals the ‘invaluable’ advice he’s received from mentor Mark Webber

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Oscar Piastri is in a top spot heading into the final three races of the 2025 Formula 1 season as he slips further away from the lead of the championship.

The Australian looked in cruise control at the start of the season, with five wins from the first 10 races. After he claimed his seventh win of the year at Zandvoort, he was more than 30 points clear of McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

However, he now finds himself 24 points behind Norris heading into the Las Vegas GP. Piastri has been on the podium once since Zandvoort and is struggling to extract performance from the MCL39.

The Brazilian Grand Prix was a disaster for the 24-year-old, as Piastri crashed out in the Sprint race. Following the incident, McLaren raised Piastri’s car, a modification that he did not get along with and came home P5, while Norris claimed his second win in a row.

The Aussie is now under immense pressure to keep his title hopes alive, with Norris carrying the momentum at McLaren and in the title fight. But Piastri has stressed that he has the right team around him to help out.

Mark Webber gives Oscar Piastri ‘invaluable’ advice behind the scenes at McLaren

His manager Mark Webber knows all too well what it is like to fight in and lose a title battle, having fought with Sebastian Vettel during his Red Bull days. His experience is proving vital for the McLaren star, with Webber saying he will get Piastri ‘turned around’ after Sao Paulo.

Speaking on the Beyond The Grid podcast, Piastri revealed that Webber gives him ‘invaluable’ advice behind the scenes and is ‘important’ to have by his side.

Asked whether the former Red Bull driver is a help to Piastri, he replied: “Yes. He obviously has been in a similar kind of fight, I guess, in his career. And, obviously for him, it unfortunately didn’t go the way he wanted.

“But the lessons from that and the things that he thought went well, the things he wishes he did differently, those are things that can be passed on to me before I have to experience it myself, which is invaluable at times, I would say.

“So he’s definitely a help as well. But there’s other people within my camp that help me with that kind of thing. And every situation is going to be different.

“So sometimes the lessons and the learning from one scenario don’t necessarily translate. And I think just having the general mindset and the kind of appreciation of what it’s like, that’s the important part.”

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Oscar Piastri admits he cannot win the 2025 championship on his own

It is not just Webber who is on Piastri’s side at McLaren. He also has race engineer Tom Stallard in his ear at all times, and the Aussie knows that this is crucial for his title charge, as he knows that he cannot win it on his own.

“I would argue that the pressure that Tom had in his Olympic career, or any Olympian, is, for me, that is the epitome of sporting pressure. You’ve got one chance every four years to make something happen,” he added.

“That’s, I struggle to think of a more high-pressure situation than that in sport. Even just the experience of it is going to be helpful for sure. Whether he passes that on to me directly or indirectly, that’s an important thing.

“But I guess another important thing I’ve kind of learned is it’s not just up to me. I can’t win this championship just by myself. I need the team around me and it’s not just a high-pressure situation for me either.

“It’s a high-pressure situation for all the engineers around me, mechanics, everyone. It’s tough on everyone. We’re all fighting for a championship here.

“So I think what he can bring to not just me, but also the people around us in terms of other performance engineers and other people within the team, that’s a really important thing as well.”