Oscar Piastri had a challenging São Paulo Grand Prix, with a crash during the sprint race and a fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix due to a ten-second time penalty. Yet, his mentor Mark Webber continues to have faith in the young Australian. “It’s as much about character as it is about speed now,” Webber said after the Grand Prix. Following Brazil, Piastri is 24 points behind his teammate and title rival Lando Norris.
“We’ll get him back on track,” Webber told Channel 4 after the São Paulo Grand Prix. “He’s certainly not any less motivated, I would say.” The former Red Bull driver, who has been guiding Piastri since his junior years, emphasized that the challenge is as much mental as it is physical now. “He’s had a tough time, but this is about character, about fighting against that deep-seated motivation you need at this point to come back. This is his third year in Formula 1, so he needs to find that character to fight back,” he said.
Webber stresses that Piastri’s performances should not be underestimated: “Of course, it’s a learning process for him. It’s incredible that he’s competing for a world title so early in his career,” Webber explained. “Doing that in your third year is quite unprecedented. There aren’t many drivers who reach this level at this point in their career.”
Support and Encouragement
Webber emphasized that Piastri’s situation is very different from his own path to a world title. “When I was going for my championship, I was an old hand, really at the end of my career. He’s just starting out, so it’s a different story, with different challenges.” Regarding what the young Australian needs to bounce back at full strength, Webber said: “An arm around him and some encouragement here and there. You can see that he’s ready and working extremely hard.”
