Oscar Piastri may be looking for another drive, advised by his manager and mentor Mark Webber, based on how the 2025 Formula 1 season panned out for the Australian driver.
That is the claim of former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who looked back on Piastri's season, which he started dominantly, leading most of it, only for it to unravel as he suffered from lost form, especially since he crashed in the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after which Lando Norris gathered momentum and went on to win the Title.
Montoya said: "If you look at Oscar in the last two races, he finally snapped out of it, and he won. His frustration got to the point that he thought, 'I've got nothing to lose', and as soon as he thought that, the speed came back.
"It's got to be hard for him to deal with. It sucks," the Columbian added. "But you need to react faster. I think it's a good lesson for him that what you're doing is not good enough, what the team is doing around you is not good enough, and you need to figure out how to make the team work better around you and quicker around you."
Throughout the season, McLaren refused to impose team orders on their drivers based on the infamous Papaya Rules set by CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella.
Is Piastri happy at McLaren?
However, there always seemed to be a hint of favoritism towards Norris, which was blatant in Monza when the Aussie was asked to let Norris, who was compromised by a bad pit stop, pass.
And while Brown claimed Piastri will win the Championship one day, there is no guarantee he does that with McLaren, which may now well be Norris' team.
Montoya commented: "I would guarantee you Oscar and Mark Webber are talking to another F1 team already.
"I think it's going to be the Red Bull or Aston Martin," he added. "That's just my thinking. I don't think Mark Webber was happy with the way things have gone at McLaren for Oscar. Mark is not very happy with McLaren. But the question is, is Oscar very unhappy with McLaren?"
Webber, during his racing days with Red Bull, suffered as the team favored his then teammate Sebastian Vettel, who was the undisputed number one.
Montoya is worried those memories may cloud Webber's judgment and said in conclusion: "I think they need to be careful and make sure that Webber's scars from his driving days have nothing to do with Oscar's career."
(Quotes from Grosvenor Casinos)
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