With four wins from the first six races this season, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is in the driving seat to achieve something his manager, Mark Webber, never could — win the World Championship.
Although Webber was one of the most talented drivers of his era, as evidenced by his nine wins and 42 podiums, he couldn’t quite get the better of his Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel. One of his biggest shortcomings was his inability to stamp his authority, which left him playing second fiddle for most of his career. He did, however, gain valuable experience — which he now puts to good use while mentoring Piastri, his compatriot, who’s undoubtedly the sport’s next big thing.
So far, it’s going well. Piastri joined McLaren in 2023 with a glittering junior career behind him, having won the F3 and F2 titles back-to-back. He was initially seen as second-best to Lando Norris. But now, Piastri is now close to establishing himself as the team’s number one driver. He’s 16 points ahead of the Briton in the 2025 championship and continues to improve with each passing week.
Journalist Tom Clarkson recently discussed the influence Webber has had on the young Aussie.
“I’m going to say it again now, but you know you can’t overstate the influence that Mark Webber is having on him because he’s been in those situations, and he’s just able to share that knowledge with Oscar, and we just see him improving too every single weekend,” he said on the F1 Nation Podcast.
Clarkson had an exchange with Webber of late, where he told him how annoyingly professional both Piastri and his trainer Arthur are. They just stick to work, and avoid any other conversations. “He was saying that Oscar and his physio, Arthur, are both so monosyllabic that ‘I, as his manager, I have no idea what either of them are thinking at any time‘”, the Briton revealed.
Oscar Piastri is the first Aussie to lead the drivers’ world championship since Mark Webber in 2010!
The former Red Bull driver is now his manager pic.twitter.com/OlhQXmU8lH
— Autosport (@autosport) April 20, 2025
“I was actually thinking if you’re Lando Norris that might wind you up actually not knowing what your main rival is thinking at any moment would be frustrating.”
Clarkson also believes that, in this regard, Piastri is similar to Max Verstappen. Both are solely focused on themselves and simply don’t care what others think, or at-least hide the fact that they’re affected, well.
And it’s not just Webber and experts who have highlighted Piastri’s stoic personality. His mother, Nicole Piastri, has spoken about it too. Earlier this year, she shared a hilarious anecdote that perfectly captured her son’s ability to keep his emotions in check, even in tough situations.
She revealed that during one of their bike rides, she suffered an accident and had hit her head. When Piastri saw her get hurt, he simply asked, “Are you alright?”—showing little concern on his face.
Given how brief his response was in a potentially dangerous situation, it was impossible to tell what he was really feeling. Fortunately, he was wearing a heart rate monitor, which offered a glimpse into his emotions.
Nicole shared that his heart rate had remained stable throughout the ride—until the moment of her accident, when it suddenly spiked. Laughing about it later, she recalled saying to her son, “So, you do have a heart? We just don’t see it.”
