F1: Mark Webber Could Be Pushing McLaren To Replace Ricciardo With Piastri

Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber who is an Australian motor sporting legend could be pushing McLaren to drop Daniel Ricciardo for Alpine F2 sensation Oscar Piastri. Webber who manages fellow Aussie Piastri could be the force behind this change considering the highly rated Ricciardo has struggled at Woking since making the jump in 2021 and has been handily outclassed by Lando Norris.

Ricciardo is now the most experienced Australian driver in the history of F1 after he overtook Webber’s record. In fact, Ricciardo was the one who replaced Webber at Red Bull after he retired and immediately in 2014 became a force when he out-performed 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel eventually leading to him leaving for Ferrari.

Ricciardo then was paired up against Max Verstappen in 2015 till 2018 when the Aussie decided to leave for Renault as he felt Red Bull was favouring the highly gifted Verstappen. Ricciardo held his own against Verstappen during their time together but struggled in his first year at Renault in 2019. But 2020 saw a resurgent Ricciardo but he again chose to leave the team for McLaren and signed a three-year agreement.

Now, McLaren could bench Ricciardo as his weak performances were instrumental in Ferrari defeating it for P3 in the constructor’s championship last year. McLaren has many opinions like Herta who tested its 2021 car this week and Pato O’ward. O’ward tested McLaren’s 2021 car at the end of last season.

Now Alpine’s prodigy Oscar Pisatri is in the mix as per Sky Sports pundit Ted Kravitz as he is in the mix for a seat at Williams next year. Piastri is considered to be the next big thing in F1 and is the 2021 F2 world champion. He is currently the reserve driver for Alpine but considering Fernando Alonso is showing no signs of slowing down and a long-term deal in place for Esteban Ocon, Pisatri will likely need to move to a team like Williams.

However, with Ricciardo faltering and being outclassed by Norris week after week, Webber could be pressuring the McLaren management for the switch which would mean either Ricciardo doesn’t have a driver for 2023 or shifts to one of McLaren’s other motor sporting programs like IndyCar.

Tension has been brewing between Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing and Ricciardo, but it has been stated that an early exit for Ricciardo is down to the Australian as per the contract. All McLaren can do is bench him or put him in a different motorsport category.