Oscar Piastri has said his manager, Mark Webber, remains \u201cvery much involved\u201d in his career, and confirmed he would reduce his trackside presence this season.<\/p>\n
Reports emerged that Piastri added former race engineer Pedro Matos, with whom he won the Formula 2 title in 2021, to his inner circle ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri confirms Mark Webber reduced trackside presence<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Piastri has driven under the management of the former Red Bull and Williams driver, alongside his partner, Ann Neal, through a significant portion of his career to date, with Webber having provided trackside support at the majority of races in his stint in Formula 1.<\/p>\n PlanetF1.com understands that<\/a>, with this change, it will be Matos to take on a trackside role at most, if not all, races in 2026, with Webber attending selected rounds this time around.<\/p>\n It is understood Matos has not been employed directly by McLaren, but will be working with Piastri to offer both his expertise and support over race weekends, along with the Australian continuing to work with prominent sports psychologist, Emma Murray.<\/p>\n Piastri<\/a> mounted his first Formula 1 title challenge last season, with his form having dipped in the latter stages of the campaign, losing out to Lando Norris and Max Verstappen having held a 34-point lead at the two-thirds stage of the season.<\/p>\n With Formula 1 resetting its regulations ahead of the new year, and Piastri looking to better his McLaren teammate as his experience grows in the category, a change has come to shake up how his weekends look.<\/p>\n More analysis from F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain<\/p>\n F1 testing conclusions: Bring back V10s, fresh Aston Martin hope, secret Ferrari weapon<\/a><\/p>\n Ferrari unveils radical exhaust flap ahead of F1 2026 aero fight<\/a><\/p>\n Asked if there was anything that was behind this change to his team, Piastri told PlanetF1.com and others: \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything specific. Just, you know, we made a decision for things to look a bit different.<\/p>\n \u201cMark is still very much involved, and I\u2019ve been in contact with him a lot over the last few weeks. He just won\u2019t be trackside as much anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, that\u2019s really the extent of it. There\u2019s nothing specific that triggered it.\u201d<\/p>\n Piastri and McLaren have completed their final pre-season running in Bahrain, with McLaren having topped the overall lap count over the six allotted days, notching 817 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit.<\/p>\n That will provide the team with plenty of data ahead of the new season and, while CEO Zak Brown predicts Ferrari and Mercedes to potentially be ahead come the Australian Grand Prix, McLaren should be among the frontrunners.<\/p>\n For Piastri, though, he has spent time adapting to his new machinery, in a radically different set of regulations, which in turn has created a different driving experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a learning curve,\u201d he explained. \u201cThere are still some things that we need to do as drivers that are certainly very different to what we had to do last year.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, I think the kind of optimisation around driving that way\u2026 firstly, as drivers, I think we\u2019re getting our heads around the new things we need to do. And as teams, [we are] making accommodations for having to drive a certain way now.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it has improved. It still is very different to what we have before, but I think, naturally, we\u2019ve all probably found performance, and just with performance, it\u2019s made some creature comforts a little bit nicer as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we are making progress. Let\u2019s see what Melbourne\u2019s like.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n