Jordan: If I were Red Bull I would sign Piastri

Amid a backdrop in which 33-year-old Sergio Perez's future with the team is in constant doubt while his teammate Verstappen, eight years his junior, humbles him weekend in and weekend out.

The second seat at RBR remains a contentious issue for a team that has every other box ticked. And a solution might in fact be in the form of their former driver, Mark Webber and his fellow Australian prodigy, Piastri.

On Sunday, Piastri started the Hungarian Grand Prix from fourth on the grid. Made a solid start to take advantage of wayward driving ahead of him to keep it tight. By the time the dust had settled on Lap 1, Turn 1 the McLaren rookie was up to second, chasing race leader and eventual winner Verstappen. It was a class act.

It was the beginning of a long afternoon that started well and petered out for Oscar. Lack of experience and circumstances out of his control acted against Piastri, but he still finished fifth. His race included battles with Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. He was not outshone at all. In fact, he is by far the best rookie F1 has had in years. With huge potential evident very early on.

Eddie Jordan. who gave rookie Michael Schumacher his break at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, believes that Piastri is the right fit despite the 22-year-old having only 11 Grand Prix weekends under his belt.

Former F1 team owner (of what is nowadays Aston Martin) Jordan told TalkSport: "I think there is big star quality in there. I’m actually blown away by this young kid, so he’d be one of the drivers I’d be looking at to challenge Max in the future.

"Oscar is managed by my old partner Mark Webber and we saw how he got him into McLaren. Do not be surprised if there’s a seat available at Red Bull, of course where Mark used to be. Don’t be surprised if he is named for that drive in the future," ventured Jordan.

Even with Red Bull's prodigal son Daniel Ricciardo back on the F1 grid with AlphaTauri, thanks to Nyck de Vries failing to impress the team, while Yuki Tsunoda has yet to mature into a driver worthy of promotion.

Jordan defied speculation the Australian will be moved 'upstairs' to the Senior team: "I don’t see it [Ricciardo], they had that chance before and Red Bull doesn’t usually go back in time, they have a very forward vision.

"If there’s a change at Red Bull, Mark Webber has brought this kid [Piastri] on, brought him over from Australia, and what a revelation he’s turned out to be," declared Jordan.

His mentor Webber, of course, has no doubts about Piastri's talent, and as a nine-time winner for RBR he will have Christian Horner and Helmut Marco on speed-dial should there be interest in the young Aussie phenomenon from that side.

Speaking of The Piastri F1 Journey, Webber revealed in a recent F1 Nation podcast: "It's nice to see someone go through such a phenomenal experience. Every day's new for him. Every day he's getting gradually better. As any of us guys that have performed at an elite level know, it's just experience that you can't buy.

"He's ending up with a truckload more experience for next year, which is great. The rollercoaster is real, very real. You want to be there for the good and the bad moments for him.

"I have to be, which is part of it but his emotional regulation is quite extraordinary. He can really absorb information really, really well. And he needs to, because this is the toughest test in motorsport for a driver," added Webber.

Piastri is contracted to McLaren until the end of 2024. As Jordan says, beyond that Piastri at Red Bull makes sense provided of course Oscar is prepared to take on teammate career destroyer in chief: Max Verstappen, the best driver in F1 at the moment.