Formula 1
Rob Smedley issues warning over potential Oscar Piastri Red Bull move
Rob Smedley has warned that drivers leaving top Formula 1 teams to become number one elsewhere rarely find the success or happiness they expect
Alex Harrington
Published: May 11, 2026, 2:23 PM
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Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Sona Maleterova / Getty Images
Rob Smedley, speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, has pushed back against the idea that a secondary driver can leave a top Formula 1 team and successfully launch a championship challenge from another.
The former Ferrari and Williams race engineer drew from his experience in top teams:
"If you're a driver in that team and you're struggling against your team-mate - I'm going back now to my Ferrari days - what's the option for you? Do you leave and go to a worse team that actually has no chance of winning the world championship, but you might be the better driver in that team?
"I've seen that on many an occasion, I've seen drivers do that and I've never seen it work out well. I've never seen it where the driver's been happier."
Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer agreed, citing single-team dominance as the main reason behind this.
"Yeah, because there's two things that happen. That team you're going to, you're saying isn't the best team, you've got to be the number one driver there, which you know you could be. But then that team also has to ascend to be the best team.
"And those two things are a bit more rare.
"Especially the team moving from third best to first, you know? Because usually there's periods of six, seven years of Mercedes or four or five years of Red Bull or whatever it was with Ferrari and Michael [Schumacher] - about ten.
"So in those ten years, if you're the number two at Ferrari and you say, 'You know what, I want to be the number one somewhere else,' you've got ten years of wherever you went is not the best team."
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
This conversation comes as Red Bull targets Oscar Piastri as Max Verstappen replacement Red Bull is targeting Oscar Piastri to take Max Verstappen's seat should the Dutchman leave the team.
Verstappen's potential exit from F1 seemingly stems from his disinterest in the current regulations. While nothing has been confirmed, he has previously teased the idea of either a sabbatical or even retirement. While his contract runs until 2028, reported exit clauses in his contract with the Milton Keynes squad could see him take action.
Piastri is understood to be contracted with McLaren through 2027, and while the Woking outfit sees him as an integral part of its long-term strategy, the Australian may take the chance to take on the role of lead driver beside Isack Hadjar.
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