Oscar Piastri has sort-of clarified the reduced trackside role of manager Mark Webber, amid reports McLaren wanted him ousted altogether.
A combination of Piastri’s loss of form in the back-end of last season and several head-scratching strategy decisions from the team reportedly caused tensions between Webber and McLaren bosses, including chief executive Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella.
Last week, it was confirmed Webber would step back from his full-time trackside role. Commercial commitments were cited as the reason.
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Webber and his wife Ann Neal have managed Piastri for much of his career, with Webber focusing on his development as a driver while Neal handles the commercial side.
Piastri and Webber in the paddock during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. Getty
Speaking in Bahrain following the conclusion of pre-season testing, Piastri said there wasn’t one incident that triggered the call.
“There wasn’t anything specific, we just made a decision for things to look a bit different,” the Melbournian said.
“Mark is still very much involved and I’ve been in contact with him a lot over the last few weeks.
“He just won’t be trackside as much anymore. So that’s really the extent of it. But yeah, there was nothing specific that triggered it.”
Webber’s trackside role will be filled by Pedro Matos, who was Piastri’s race engineer in his championship-winning F2 season.
According to former grand prix winner Ralf Schumacher, McLaren wanted Piastri to get rid of Webber altogether.
“There was quite a lot of pressure there … after last year, from what I’ve heard, it was very important to McLaren that Piastri had a different manager this year to bring more calm,” he said in German on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast.
“There’s a lot going on right now … I still remember the final phase of last season, Mark Webber was constantly on the phone.
Piastri in action during the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. LAT Images
“The relationship between Zak Brown and Mark Webber had cooled, so to speak.”
Schumacher’s suggestion is not that tensions had cooled between the pair, but that the the relationship had become frosty as opposed to warm and friendly.
Piasti ended the final day of pre-season testing with the 11th-fastest time of the day. He set his time during the day, before handing over the car to teammate Lando Norris for the evening session.
He finished with the third-fastest time of the two tests combined, one-hundredth quicker than Norris, but a whopping eight tenths of a second behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
The F1 season gets under way in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.