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Oscar Piastri’s mum hails ‘ultimate manager’ helping the McLaren F1 driver, and it’s not Mark Webber

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Oscar Piastri can become the first Australian to win the F1 drivers’ title since 1980 this year, and a fellow Aussie stands beside the McLaren ace in his manager Mark Webber.

Webber, who raced in F1 from 2002 to 2013, has worked with Piastri since 2019 and helped to guide his rise to the pinnacle of motorsport. Now, the Australians are working together to help Piastri win the F1 drivers’ championship in only his third year on the grid with McLaren.

Piastri ended Australia’s wait for one of their own to top the drivers’ standings going back to when Webber briefly led the way in 2010 after he won the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April. The 25-year-old also remained atop the table from round five until 20 of this year’s 24.

But Piastri now finds himself 24 points behind his McLaren teammate Lando Norris entering the final three rounds of the 2025 F1 season. There are a maximum of 83 points still on offer over the final Grands Prix in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi plus the final F1 Sprint at Lusail.

Mark Webber and Oscar Piastri walking through the paddock at the 2025 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix
Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty Images

Nicole Piastri thinks Mark Webber’s wife, Ann, is the ‘ultimate manager’ for Oscar Piastri

Australia has not had an F1 champion since Alan Jones became only the second Aussie to lift the title in 1980, following Jack Brabham’s titles in 1959, ‘60 and ‘66. Webber offers Piastri “invaluable” advice behind the scenes in his bid to now end Australia’s wait for another title.

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

Mark Webber’s ‘phenomenal’ assessment of Oscar Piastri’s debut F1 season

“I think it’s still so easy to forget that Oscar didn’t race last year.

“He’s had a phenomenal, phenomenal entry in his first year. But being Oscar, he will continue to work on where he can improve and keep getting better.”

Nicole Piastri, Oscar’s mum, feels it is “incredible” for her son to have a mentor like Webber, who won nine of his 215 Grand Prix starts and also fought for the F1 title in 2010. But Nicole believes Webber’s wife, Ann, is the “ultimate manager” pulling the strings for Oscar’s career.

“It’s incredible to have an F1 driver mentoring you and someone of Mark’s level,” Nicole told SEN. “It’s not just his experience, but also Ann Webber’s. She is very much involved, they are the dream team.

“She is the ultimate manager, and then [Mark] is the person who has experienced what Oscar is going through. He’s a great down-to-earth Aussie. It’s perfect. Oscar benefits enormously. It’s incredible company for him to have them there.”

Oscar Piastri has matched Mark Webber’s nine F1 career Grand Prix wins

Chris Piastri, Oscar’s dad, and his close friend Rob McIntyre initially oversaw the Melbourne native’s career. But they accepted in 2019 that Oscar needed more support on his rise to F1, so Chris hired Ann and Mark Webber. Ann acted as Mark Webber’s manager over his career.

CATEGORYRECORD
Grand Prix starts215
Pole positions13
Wins9
Podiums42
Fastest laps19
Points1047.5
Best championship result3rd (2010, 2011, 2013)
Mark Webber’s Formula 1 career

Ann and Mark Webber joined Oscar Piastri’s management team while he was competing for, and eventually won, the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup title. He backed it up with the 2020 F3 and the 2021 F2 titles, both as a rookie, before joining McLaren for his F1 debut in 2023.

Now, Piastri is a nine-time Grand Prix winner from 67 starts, matching Webber’s career total and bettering his win record of 4.19% at 13.43%. Piastri also has three career hat-tricks after he dominated in 2025 in Bahrain, Spain and the Netherlands, where he did the Grand Slam.

Webber never achieved a hat-trick (pole, win and fastest lap) or a Grand Slam (to also lead every lap) in his F1 career, which featured spells at Williams, Minardi, Jaguar and Red Bull. Webber’s experiences at Red Bull now help him guide Piastri as he duels for the 2025 title.