What Mark Webber is doing behind the scenes at McLaren to protect Oscar Piastri

Follow us on Google Discover

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has been managed by ex-Formula 1 driver Mark Webber since 2020. Up to this point, it’s been a highly successful partnership.

Piastri won the F3 title that year and immediately followed it up with the F2 championship. He had to spend a year on the sidelines before he graduated to F1, but it always seemed inevitable he’d secure a seat.

After a remarkable legal dispute, Piastri signed for McLaren rather than Alpine. A transformative mid-season upgrade allowed him to score two podiums and 97 points in his rookie year.

Even still, the Australian probably didn’t expect McLaren to be quite so strong in 2024. From Miami onwards, they’ve arguably the strongest package in F1.

Piastri scored his maiden Grand Prix victory in Hungary and has increased his haul of career podiums of seven. He’s already racked up exactly 100 more points than he did in 2023.

Piastri believes he’s better than Webber but the former Red Bull driver achieved plenty of success in F1. In addition to his nine wins, he bagged 13 poles and 42 podiums.

Oscar Piastri’s manager Mark Webber is ‘putting his oar in’ at McLaren

Webber must navigate a new challenge now as McLaren introduce team orders to favour Lando Norris. The British driver is 44 points ahead of his teammate in the championship and Andrea Stella wants to maximise his chances of pipping Max Verstappen (62 points clear).

During his time at Red Bull, Webber justifiably felt that the team were favouring Sebastian Vettel. At the 2010 British GP, for instance, they gave Vettel their new front wing and forced him to drive an older version of the car (though he won the race anyway).

And he was also unhappy with how Christian Horner and co. responded when the multiple world champion ignored team orders in Malaysia in 2013. He was instructed to hold position behind Webber but passed him on track regardless.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Chequered Flag podcast, journalist Andrew Benson reported that Webber has been wielding his influence internally at McLaren. He’s warned them not to ‘do Piastri over’ in the face of Norris’ advantage.

“He works with Piastri,” Benson said. “He’s been putting his oar in basically and making it clear that he doesn’t want his driver to be done over.

“I don’t think McLaren are the kind of team that do people over in that way. But still, there’s that pressure.”

Why Lando Norris looks ‘sick’ of media duties at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

It’s unclear whether Webber is partly responsible for McLaren’s initial reluctance to impose a driver hierarchy. Many feel they have already cost themselves critical points in the drivers’ title fight by maintaining parity.

Both drivers faced relentless questions about the new team rules ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Thursday. Norris looked ‘sick’ of the media, according to one journalist, after featuring in most of the post-race press conferences already this year.

On the other side of the garage, Piastri insisted he wouldn’t let Norris pass at ‘every single race’. That suggests McLaren want to avoid extreme and rather embarrassing scenarios.

Norris has prevailed in 11 out of 16 Grands Prix so far without the assistance of team orders. But the more recent Sunday formbook arguably favours Piastri, who’s finished ahead in three of the last four.