Mark Webber’s Oscar Piastri role change was inevitable, says David Coulthard

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard believes it was a "natural development" for Mark Webber to take a step back from his trackside role as Oscar Piastri's manager.

The Australian driver announced a change-up in his personal team ahead of the 2026 season. While Webber is still his manager, he took a step back from his trackside support role and put his focus on commercial matters instead.

"Well I'm not a fly on the wall, but what it feels like is that Mark and his wife Ann went all in to not only get Oscar on the Formula 1 grid, but to get him on the Formula 1 grid not with Alpine, which is where allegedly a contract could have sat," Coulthard explained on the Up To Speed podcast.

"So they got him into McLaren, helped him through the initial phase of becoming a grand prix driver and then got in the ring with him through what was a pretty public conversation as to whether McLaren's approach decided on by the CEO, by the board, by the team principal was the right approach to allow us to see racing."

McLaren allowed both Piastri and his team-mate Lando Norris to fight it out on track for the drivers' championship, with only the famous 'papaya rules' in place, which effectively prohibited them from crashing into one another. 

Norris ultimately claimed the drivers' title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Piastri finished in third behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

"That's what it comes down to," Coulthard continued. "None of us like to see one driver being told to move over. They have the right, as they did, to do exactly what they're doing.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

"Team orders when I started in Formula 1 were not allowed, although they happened. At a certain point, the FIA changed that to allow teams to make team instructions for the benefit of the team. So, they didn't do anything other than the very best for McLaren.

"But as fans of the sport, and maybe me having lived through having to move over a couple of times for team-mates, didn't want to see too much of it. But I think that having gone in the ring, or to use a Mark Webber expression, been in the trenches with Oscar through what was his first crack at a world title, I think there's an inevitable wanting to step back and let him get on with it because at the end of the day, no one can be in the car with the driver.

"No manager, whether it was Keke Rosberg with Mika Hakkinen, a former world champion who was in the ring with Mika, or any other named manager, the driver still has to get out there and do their own thing.

"So, I don't think Mark retired from frontline racing to suddenly be going to 24 grands prix, not holding the hand of Oscar, but guiding him through the good and the bad. So I think it's just a natural development into this new setup that he has where Mark and Ann are still involved."