People in the F1 paddock are now saying one thing about Mark Webber’s role in Oscar Piastri’s camp

Follow us on Google Discover

Mark Webber must have been feeling a sense of deja vu when he bumped into his old Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel in the paddock at the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Fifteen years on from his own drivers’ championship battle, Mark Webber is mentoring McLaren star Oscar Piastri through his first campaign fighting for a Formula 1 title.

Back in 2010, Webber was up against Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to win the title.

Back-to-back wins in Brazil and Abu Dhabi earned the German the first of his championships, while Webber had to settle for third after a disappointing final race at the Yas Marina Circuit.

A few months ago, it looked like Piastri could wrap up his first championship before getting to Abu Dhabi, but after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, he’ll be hoping that he’s still in contention by the time the season’s finale rolls around.

Lando Norris has been perfect at the last two races and opened up a 24-point lead over Piastri.

Jacques Villeneuve was blown away by Norris in Brazil, while his teammate crashed out in the Sprint Race and was then penalised for a move that eventually led to Charles Leclerc’s retirement.

Piastri’s penalty has been adjudged to have been harsh by some people, but there are others who are starting to question the role Webber might be playing behind the scenes in the Australian’s camp.

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

Mark Webber’s mentorship of Oscar Piastri judged by some people in the F1 paddock

Journalists Jennie Gow and Andrew Benson were discussing Webber on the Chequered Flag Podcast.

Gow said: “It has been suggested to me that because Mark Webber never got to be a world champion and lost out and had to almost cede to Sebastian Vettel, that he doesn’t have the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

“Like he doesn’t have that knowledge, but I don’t believe that to be the case.”

Benson then recalled a moment in Webber’s battle with Vettel that explains how McLaren are handling their intra-team battle differently to Red Bull: “I just think it’s really interesting that it is Webber who’s the manager of Piastri because it’s all so different what’s happening at McLaren this year from the way Red Bull handled Vettel and Webber.

“Christian Horner used to say publicly that they were treated equally. That was a lie. They were not treated equally.

“We saw it in 2010 at Silverstone, where there was a really controversial incident where they had a new front wing, but there were only two of them.

“Vettel’s broke in practice, and they took it off Webber’s car and put it on Vettel’s car for qualifying. Webber was furious, and he ended up winning the race and came out with that famous remark, not bad for a number two driver at the end of the Grand Prix.

“It’s completely different. No transparency in the way they were dealing with things. Saying one thing publicly, acting a different way privately, completely different from McLaren, absolute transparency with the media and internally between the team bosses and the drivers.

“And I think that’s how they’ve managed to keep a lid on it so far in the way that, for example, Red Bull didn’t with Vettel and Webber.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Mark Webber explains how he’s helping Oscar Piastri behind the scenes at McLaren

Webber might not have won a championship, but he has plenty of victories under his belt and a vast amount of experience.

In the build-up to the race in Sao Paulo, Webber explained how he’s helping Piastri behind the scenes, and it must be said that Norris doesn’t have a driver of a similar calibre giving him support at this stage.

It’s easy to draw comparisons between Webber’s career and Piastri’s recent struggles, but it doesn’t take into account how inexperienced the McLaren driver is right now compared to when his mentor was fighting for a championship.

Piastri is only going to keep improving, and the support of Webber is vital in making that happen, even if some in the paddock disagree.