Mark Webber has revealed how Oscar Piastri is faring at McLaren after a tricky start to the season, with a DNF in Bahrain and a pointless finish in Saudi Arabia.
Things improved for Piastri in Australia, as the Formula 1 rookie secured his first points finish in the sport at his home grand prix.
“Here he is, his learning is underway,” Webber told the F1 Nation podcast.
“He’s in the elite of the elite now, which is F1. He’s got an elite teammate in Lando [Norris] and he’s enjoying [it].
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“They’re getting on like a house on fire and just working hard to make McLaren perform better in the future.”
Webber didn’t elaborate on whether Piastri regrets moving to McLaren over Alpine, although the Australian driver has previously claimed he is pleased to be racing alongside Norris
Piastri is currently sat in P13 in the Drivers’ Championship, behind Esteban Ocon in P12 and ahead of Pierre Gasly who is in P14.
In the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren recently overtook Alpine after securing a double points finish in Australia, while both Alpines crashed out of the race on lap 57.
Piastri has a strong record in motorsport, as Webber explained during the episode.
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“He won [the 2020 Formula 3] championship, not overly comfortably,” Webber explained.”But it was the championship through Covid, so I think there [were] nine events in 11 weeks or something, and it wasn’t without technical challenges. His car put up a bit of a fight that year, but he still got the job done.
“And then he moved into Formula 2. [He] did a very, very, very good job there, pretty much dominated that in his first year, which was great.
“There was one in-season test, and I saw him in that test and I thought, ‘He’s going to just destroy this’. And he did from then on, which was pretty good to watch.”