Could Oscar Piastri be a future world champion? Flavio Briatore certainly thinks so. The Alpine advisor was the manager of Piastri’s current manager, Mark Webber, for fifteen years. Briatore also makes a prediction about when the Australian will clinch his first title.
Piastri is having a solid second season with McLaren. The Melbourne-born driver even claimed his very first Formula 1 victory in Hungary. Flavio Briatore, former team boss at Renault, believes that the Australian has the potential to become a world champion. The Italian was the manager of Mark Webber, Piastri’s current manager, for fifteen years.
Briatore’s Promise to Alpine: ‘We’ll See the Podium in Two Years’
A Tribute to Mark Webber
“Honestly, the man who has impressed me the most in Formula 1 was Mark Webber,” Briatore shares about his former protégé in the Formula For Success podcast. “He is one of the best people I have met in Formula 1. He was always loyal, he is sincere, he is a friend, he is respectful.”
When asked by Eddie Jordan, former team boss and host of the podcast, if Webber learned a lot from Briatore, the Italian responded with a laugh, “Well, the fact that Piastri looks like world champion material, then yes.”
Future World Champion?
According to the Italian businessman, it won’t be long before Piastri claims his first world title. “If he is not a world champion next year, then he will be in 2027. If McLaren still has this car, then in my opinion, Piastri is one of the best drivers.”
Briatore is not the only former F1 team boss who thinks this way, as Jordan also agreed with the Italian’s prediction. “I said about three races ago, before he won that race, that he would become one of the best drivers of the coming decade,” Jordan stated. Piastri currently ranks fourth in the drivers’ championship with 167 points.
