There was a lot of hype surrounding Oscar Piastri when he first entered F1, thanks to his impressive junior career, where he won three consecutive championships between 2019 and 2021. His manager, Mark Webber, who has been with him throughout, even likened his qualities to those of Michael Schumacher. The former Red Bull driver admitted that he was nowhere near good enough.
Per PlanetF1, Webber confessed last year, “I only knew I wasn’t good enough to win championships when I met Oscar. Despite all his talent, when it comes to his way of always wanting to get better and never resting on his laurels, he reminds me extremely of Michael Schumacher.”
“I only knew I wasn’t good enough to win championships when I met Oscar.”
– Mark Webber pic.twitter.com/phZAe3LqoF— ella₈₁༉ (@lawyerofoscar) September 28, 2024
Webber has competed with Schumacher and several other talented drivers like Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso among others in the 2000s. He also came close to winning the World Championship in 2010 and 2012.
The Aussie was teammates with Sebastian Vettel who gave him a tough time and had a lot of skirmishes with the German. Webber never wanted to be Vettel’s #2 driver but had to settle for that, because it was what Red Bull ordered him to do. Still, in 2010, he was the frontrunner to win the title only to miss out at the Abu Dhabi finale where strategy compromised his race.
Webber retired after 2013, and worked in media for some time before becoming Piastri’s manager. He oversaw his F3 and F2 Championship victories and is now watching him evolve into one of the best F1 drivers today.
Piastri has hit the ground running in F1
Piastri’s rookie season proved that he had what it took to succeed in F1. He won the Qatar GP sprint, and finished on the podium twice – the best rookie season in F1 since Hamilton in 2007.
Then in 2024, when McLaren’s pace improved, Piastri took things up a notch. Piastri has already won two Grands Prix in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
Even his teammate Lando Norris praised him, insisting that he pushed him to be better.
However, Norris is in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship. Despite that, Piastri remains in contention for victories, making Norris’ life difficult. Hence, Heading into 2025, there is a high possibility of Piastri and Norris developing a bitter rivalry.
