Why Oscar Piastri's Azerbaijan GP weekend performance drew comparisons with Mark Webber

The newest F1 driver, Oscar Piastri, was compared to former driver Mark Webber after the race in Azerbaijan on the F1 Nation podcast. Jean Alesi mentioned the similarities between both the drivers and their habits.

It was revealed that before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix took place, Piastri had lost around three kgs of weight because he had not been well and threw up a couple of times.

While this would have certainly affected his performance, he still finished P11, which is much better given where the team started.

Jean Alesi, a former F1 driver, mentioned how Oscar Piastri didn't let the media know about his health, similar to what Mark Webber did back in the day. He mentioned the time when the Australian had puked in his helmet during the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix.

"I see Oscar as a sort of mini-me. Now when I look at Mark and Oscar, I see no difference because the fact that Oscar did not talk in the press about his illness, we also had to find out. I think that was a very Mark Webber thing to do.

"I remember when Mark vomitted in his helmet in a race back in the day and just sort of got on with it, and Ocar's very much cut from the same cloth."

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Oscar Piastri's P11 and Lando Norris' P9 evidence of McLaren's improvement, feels Tom Clarkson

Team McLaren at the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan

McLaren has had a tough start to the season and it was difficult for the drivers to finish their cars among the points. However, the race at Baku differed greatly from the first three of the season.

Clarkson believes that the upgrades they brought in worked, one way or the other, for the team.

He analyzed how the cars were around 0.2 seconds faster, but at the same time, their tire management had improved. Both he and Alesi feel that this is the performance the team should have had when the season started, but it came in quite late.

"While we're talking McLaren, so Oscar Piastri comes home 11th and Lando Norris P9. They did bring those upgrades, the team we're talking about, sort of 0.2 of a second improvement but much greater consistency with the tires, things I like that. I just asked Mark whether he felt McLaren's season starts now. It's almost as if this is the launch spec car for that team and they get going now."

James Key, the technical director of McLaren, was recently let go from the team, which is thought to be among the reasons for the poor start the team had.

However, with Lando Norris' point finish in Baku, expectations are rising again. Both he and Oscar Piastri have scored points, and the team could turn out to be competitive later in the season.