Webber: Easy to forget Piastri didn't race for 15 months

Mark Webber has hailed the recent performances of his protégé Oscar Piastri given his rookie status in F1 and the fact that the young Aussie hadn't faced for fifteen months before joining the grid this season.

Piastri – who won the FIA F3 and F2 Championships in consecutive years – moved to McLaren after a year on the sidelines in 2022 as an Alpine reserve driver.

But the 22-year-old has taken to Formula 1 like a key in a lock, quickly adapting to his new environment at team papaya and getting up to speed with ease relative to his talented teammate Lando Norris.

Piastri scored his first championship points in his home race in Melbourne but the recent upgrades implemented by McLaren on its MCL60 have further boosted the young charger's performance level.

At Silverstone and at the Hungaroring, Piastri delivered top-four qualifying results followed on race day by top-five finishes.

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And in Belgium last time out, he outqualified Norris on Friday and outpaced the latter in Saturday's sprint event which he finished a remarkable second behind Max Versappen.

"I think it’s been an extraordinary few weeks for the whole team," Webber told F1.com. "The bar has been accelerated to a very high level, very fast within the group – we shouldn’t be shy about that.

"I think it’s still so easy to forget that Oscar didn’t race last year. I think the start of the year it does take time. It’s his first time in F1, it’s not like he’s returning from a break… He’s been away 15 months and has never raced in F1!

"Lando has been exceptional, Lando’s top drawer, we know that, and Oscar has just held himself in such… Of course, we’re all very proud of him."

While Piastri's inception into F1 has been impressive, Webber says McLaren's apprentice will only get better with each passing race.

"He’s had a phenomenal, phenomenal entry in his first year," added the nine-time F1 winner. "But being Oscar, he will continue to work on where he can improve and keep getting better."

As for the young man himself, Piastri isn't entirely satisfied with his rookie season year-to-date, nothing that he still needs to learn from his mistakes.

"There have been maybe a few too many mistakes for what I would like," he said in Spa. "I know that seems to be expected being a rookie, but there's been a few too many.

"Before the season, I said if I was to make mistakes, I want to try and make them once and learn from them and not make them again.

"But there has been a couple of times where I've made a similar mistake, but I do feel like I am improving on that."

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