Mark Webber deems Oscar Piastri’s F1 progress “job well done so far”

Oscar Piastri's manager and former F1 driver Mark Webber has rated the Australian driver's progress in Formula 1 very highly. He explained that competing with the likes of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris is no joke, and Piastri is holding his own.

Piastri, who made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2023, landed in the fastest car on the grid in just the third year of his career. In 2024, he followed team orders to help his teammate Lando Norris challenge Max Verstappen for a championship.

However, this year, the tables have turned as Piastri is coming out as a strong driver's title contender. In four races, he won twice in China and Bahrain and jumped to P2 in championship standings with 74 points.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri's rise in F1 has become a talking point ever since he started delivering strong performances consistently. The Australian driver's manager and former F1 driver, Mark Webber, mentioned being really impressed with his displays this season. While talking to the F1 Nation podcast, he said:

“Four wins now, 13 podiums so early in his career is, of course, a really huge feather in his cap. As we know, you can have the machinery, but it’s often not easy to convert those opportunities. He’s converted the two poles straight away, so I think what we’re seeing quite early in his career is a job well done so far."

Piastri has had an edge over Lando Norris this season despite the duo competing in equal machinery. For instance, Norris committed a costly error in Bahrain that dropped him to P3, whereas Oscar set no foot wrong and converted his pole position into a dominant victory.

While the season is still long, Piastri's performance has moved fans and critics. He is being recognized as a legitimate championship contender, but the race is expected to get tighter in the second half.

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Oscar Piastri warns McLaren against carelessness

Oscar Piastri at the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain - Source: Getty

While McLaren may have been the team to beat this season, Oscar Piastri is wary of competition. After his second victory of the season in Bahrain, Piastri said that McLaren's advantage is not good enough for them to be careless. The Papaya team still needs to turn up with the same hunger and passion every weekend to win.

Talking to Racingnews365, he mentioned:

“I think we have the quickest car at the moment, but our advantage is not enough to be careless and lay back and not execute as best as you can. We have an advantage in the race, for sure. I think to qualify, you have to still be on it because the gap is not much still. As we saw in Japan, Max put in a good performance, and it was enough to be better than us. So I think that's kind of just another demonstration that it's going to be tight the whole year, and we’ve got to be in our best form.”

Only 15 points separate the top four drivers in the championship standings. Hence, the pecking order is compressed, and the competition has been fierce so far.