Oscar Piastri explains how his relationship with Mark Webber has evolved

Oscar Piastri has offered rare insight into the changing dynamic between himself and manager Mark Webber, as adjustments to his personal support structure take shape ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

A recalibrated support team for 2026

As part of those changes, Piastri will now be joined at race weekends by Pedro Matos, his former Formula 2 race engineer at Prema in 2021, alongside Australian mental coach Emma Murray. Webber’s responsibilities, meanwhile, will focus more heavily on commercial matters, rather than day-to-day race operations.

From constant guidance to quiet oversight

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Piastri explained how Webber’s influence has naturally shifted as his own understanding of Formula 1 has deepened.

“The relationship's good. Very thorough, is Mark,” Piastri said. “When I first got into F1, Mark was coming up with questions and ideas that literally hadn't even entered my brain. I would hear him say it and go like, ‘How the hell did he think of that?’”

That early phase, Piastri admitted, was defined by learning curves that could not be shortcut. Experience, however, has changed the dynamic.

“Now starting my fourth year, I have either the answers to a lot of those kinds of questions that I wouldn't have had in the first couple of years, or I know the questions to keep asking,” he explained. “Which just comes with experience.”

The result is a reduced need for Webber’s hands-on involvement in racing matters — not because his guidance is less valuable, but because much of it has already been absorbed.

Lessons learned — and lessons avoided

Piastri was candid about the role Webber played in protecting him from unnecessary setbacks during his early seasons.

“There are some lessons you have to learn the hard way,” he said. “But I'm sure there could have been plenty of other slightly annoying, tougher lessons to learn that I was probably spared because of Mark's experience and Mark's guidance.”

Perhaps most telling was Piastri’s acknowledgement that some of Webber’s most effective work went entirely unseen.

“There's probably always going to be situations or things that have gone smoothly — or almost problems that weren't problems — that I'm never going to know about because Mark managed them for me,” he reflected. “That's probably how it's changed in the last few years.”

A maturity mirrored across the paddock

Piastri’s comments offer a revealing snapshot of a driver growing into his role at the top level, where managerial influence increasingly operates in the background rather than the foreground. It is a progression mirrored by other established names in the paddock, as discussed in our analysis of McLaren’s long-term driver strategy and leadership structure in this piece on Zak Brown’s stance on Piastri and Norris.

For Piastri, the recalibration does not signal distance from Webber, but trust — built through years of preparation, guidance, and shared decision-making. The safety net remains. It is simply less visible now.

That, in itself, may be the clearest sign yet of how far he has come.