Oscar Piastri enjoyed a wonderful maiden home Grand Prix in Australia. The 22-year-old secured his first points of the season and his F1 career after securing P8 at the 2023 Australian GP.
This year also marked the absence of Daniel Ricciardo from the F1 grid. Ricciardo is a fan favorite in the down under. However, the McLaren driver managed to keep his home crowd captivated and fill the void left by the 8 GP winner.
The Aussie crowd cheered for the youngster, which signifies the baton being passed to Piastri as Australia’s focal driver. Australia’s most decorated driver Mark Webber and his wife certainly believe so!
Oscar Piastri is far more sophisticated than him
Oscar Piastri repeated Mark Webber’s feat of securing his first F1 points on his first home Grand Prix. In 2002, Webber made his Formula One debut with the Minardi team and finished fifth in his opening race, the Australian Grand Prix.
The driver went on to achieve 9 F1 victories, and 12 poles and finished 3rd place in the standings thrice. Webber also contributed to Red Bull’s domination in F1 and their 4 consecutive championships between 2010-14.
The 46-year-old now works as Piastri’s agent. He played a key role in influencing McLaren to replace struggling Daniel Ricciardo with the youngster for the 2023 season.
Looking at the similarities, Webber was asked how good Piasti is compared to him on his debut. The Aussie claims even his wife agrees that the McLaren driver is a much better driver than both he and Ricciardo were at the age of 22.
Webber joked, “My wife said he’s the most sophisticated Australian who has gone overseas. Given that she is comparing him with Daniel and me, the bar is very low.”
He added, “I don’t think there are any comparisons between me and Oscar. It just shows the generation gap.” The former Red Bull driver believes not everything he did back in his debut is relevant for the youngster today.
Piastri was upset after the Qualifying
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris managed to escape the ruckus in the Australian GP. The duo finished 8th and 6th respectively achieving McLaren’s first set of points this season.
However, the team was quite unimpressive during qualifying. Piastri was eliminated in Q1 after qualifying 16th, while Norris could only secure 13th place after suffering a spin during the session.
Yet the Aussie managed to put up a great fight during the race. He consistently kept improving his positions and stayed out of trouble.
Mark Webber was asked if he delivered a pep talk to his driver after the quali or before the race. Maybe even inspiring him from tales of his own time as a driver. To which Webber joked, “If I talk to him about my career, he falls asleep!”
He claimed the McLaren driver has much bigger ambitions than listening to him. Instead, Webber managed to talk to the driver to remain optimistic about the race on Sunday.
The 9 GP winner said, “I just told him there are loads of margins during qualifying and the field is too tight. There are so many decisions that drivers have to take. And you always think what you could’ve done in the hindsight.”
The McLaren driver believes his team fared well in the chaotic Australian GP. Piastri states he definitely lost time and positions by tailing Yuki Tsunoda for a long time during the race.
