Webber: Not having Piastre “killed me” before McLaren deal

Oscar Piastri has joined McLaren’s current campaign after spending several years in Alpine’s Formula 1 academy. Oscar Piastri’s manager Mark Webber has provided further explanation for the Australian’s departure from Alpine last year.

   Piastri, who is currently enjoying an F1 season with McLaren, had his future decided by the Contract Recognition Board (CRB) after both teams insisted they had a valid contract.  exclusively revealed that the CRB has ruled in favor of McLaren, with Piastri holding talks with the Woking-based team filling Alpine’s reserve driver duties. Piastri was a member of the Alpine Academy for several years but decided to leave for McLaren when the opportunity arose to replace Daniel Ricciardo. “It was the only option we had,” Webber told Viaplay.

   “Last year, it wasn’t very comforting for us to know where he could end up. I was very nervous and disappointed that he didn’t compete last year. “Let’s see what we missed. For a guy like that, not competing was crazy and killed me inside. “McLaren was brilliant, right from the top. Shareholders all the way to make sure they got him. Now they have two phenomenal drivers.”

   Last time out in Qatar, Piastr had a successful weekend with the Sprint Shootout pole and turned it into a win before securing the second Grand Prix podium of his career. While Webber acknowledged that Piastri has room for improvement, he noted that the 22-year-old has shown impressive qualities this year. “Oscar started from a favorable position in the sprint,” Webber reflected. “It was a good qualifying session, it wasn’t easy to put the lap together here. We saw a lot of people do lane limits and run wide. But he kept his composure.

   In the sprint after that, he had to do it. with resumes with different compositions. I’m proud of him and the team.” “I think [his strength] is a combination of his adaptability, he’s very versatile.

   This year we have already seen many rainy weekends and many pranks as a rookie. “You can see that Oscar was strong on the road, he was strong in the rain in Spa. He is doing well on hot laps. “We have work to do in terms of race speed, but qualifying was a good step forward.”