Oscar Piastri has taken the Formula 1 world by storm with his impressive performances in his rookie season. His career has been managed by fellow Aussie, Mark Webber who has raced for Red Bull. Webber recently opened up about Oscar Piastri and the drama that occurred when he signed with McLaren.
“It was the only choice we had,” Webber told Viaplay. “It wasn’t too comforting for us last year knowing where he could end up. I was extremely nervous and frustrated that he did not race last year. We see what we missed. To have a guy like that not racing was a travesty and was killing me inside. McLaren was brilliant, right from the top. The shareholders, all the way through to make sure they got him. Now they’ve got two phenomenal drivers.”
Oscar Piastri came into Formula 2 right after winning the Formula 3 Championship in 2020. In his rookie year in Formula 2, he won the Championship. He was very clearly a very exciting prospect as not a lot of drivers have won the Formula 2 Championship in their rookie season.
When Fernando Alonso surprised Alpine by signing with Aston Martin instead, Alpine announced Oscar Piastri as their driver for the 2023 season. However, soon after it was announced, Oscar released a statement saying that he did not sign anything with Alpine and the statement announced by the French team was false. This statement was made as he had already secretly signed a contract with McLaren.
What triggered the collapse of Oscar Piastri-Alpine F1 relationship?
Throughout his junior career, he was a part of the Alpine Driver Academy. However, Alpine failed to give him a seat for the 2022 season as they had already signed Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso. This left Oscar on the sidelines without a seat for the 2022 season. There was no guarantee that Alpine was going to promote Oscar to a permanent seat in 2023 as well.
Throughout the season, Alpine was open about retaining the lineup of Alonso and Ocon for the 2023 season. This prompted Oscar to look at other options. Despite the success he had in Formula 2 and Formula 3, Alpine never guaranteed a seat for Oscar. This prompted Oscar to look at other options.
During the 2022 season, McLaren loaned Oscar for a few testing sessions. McLaren was obviously impressed with his performance. Since Oscar was also looking to guarantee his seat for 2023, McLaren decided to replace Daniel Ricciardo who was underperforming in McLaren.
So far, Oscar Piastri has been performing better than expected. He has already won a race by beating Max Verstappen, taken the first pole of his career, and achieved 2 podium finishes in his rookie season. These accomplishments have not been done by a rookie driver since Lewis Hamilton in 2007.
Do you think Oscar Piastri can beat Lando Norris by winning the Championship before him? Post your answers in the comment section below.