"He didn't bloody race for a long time": Former Red Bull driver looks back at Oscar Piastri's journey since his F1 debut

Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber claimed that he was shocked by McLaren driver Oscar Piastri's level since his F1 debut in 2023. The Aussie has been managing his countryman for some time now and engineered his move to Woking last year after being associated with Alpine driver's academy in Piastri's junior career.

The 23-year-old has achieved five podiums in the 2024 season, which includes a maiden win at the Hungarian GP, and is currently P4 in the driver's standings. While appearing on the Formula for Success podcast, Webber spoke about Piastri's brief career in the sport and emphasized that the latter had a 15-month gap from F2 to F1 as he was Alpine's reserve driver in 2022.

He said:

“Oscar through the junior categories has been exceptional. His entry into F1 with a 15-month break — he didn’t bloody race for a long time, which was tough. For any racing driver, that’s what you’ve got to be doing. Whether you’re an orthopedic surgeon, or you’re a racing driver, you’ve got to continue to practice your trade."

“Oscar had that gap, so I think last year entering Formula 1 for him was of course a big step, we know that from the junior categories, but time and time again he has shown that he’s ready to race at the front against the big guys, and he’s fine for that,” he added.

Former world champion gives his take on Oscar Piastri's contract with McLaren

Former world champion Nico Rosberg stated that he believed Oscar Piastri has the No.1 driver contract in McLaren without any clause of aiding his teammate which might hinder him from helping Lando Norris in the latter's championship bid against Max Verstappen.

While appearing on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, the former Mercedes driver said, via PlanetF1:

“It is hard though on Oscar, because Oscar, in his contract, will have a number one contract. Yeah, it won’t say in his contract that you need to help Lando. Oscar is driving brilliantly so he deserves every opportunity, just from his point of view, to get race wins.”

Rosberg also pointed out that the Aussie could potentially challenge for the title as he was "40 points or something, that he’s behind Lando if I’m guessing now, something like that. So he’s not that far behind either. So it’s hard to ask Oscar to start forfeiting race wins potentially.”

Oscar Piastri is 44 points behind his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the driver's championship with eight races and three Sprints remaining in the 2024 season. The Aussie has come close in Austria and Monza to add to his win tally this year as he finished a couple of seconds behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc respectively.