Mark Webber Steps Back as Oscar Piastri Expands His Inner Circle

Oscar Piastri is entering the 2026 F1 season with a reshuffled personal support team, as manager Mark Webber steps back from his trackside role to focus on commercial affairs. The 2025 title contender has brought Pedro Matos, his former F2 race engineer, into his inner circle to provide technical and strategic support on race weekends, signaling a more specialized approach as he aims for a world championship.

Why it matters:

This shift represents a natural evolution in a top driver's career, moving from broad managerial oversight to a finely-tuned, performance-focused support system. For Piastri, who came agonizingly close to the 2025 title, assembling a team with deep technical expertise like Matos could be the final piece in his championship puzzle. It allows Webber to leverage his experience on the contractual and commercial front, while Piastri gains a trusted engineering mind dedicated solely to extracting maximum performance from the car and the race weekend.

The details:

• Managerial Shift: Mark Webber, Piastri's long-time manager and mentor, will no longer be a constant trackside presence. His role is now focused on commercial, contractual, and long-term career strategy. He is expected to attend only select Grands Prix in 2026.
• New Technical Ally: Pedro Matos, who was Piastri's race engineer during his dominant 2021 Formula 2 championship season with Prema, has been enlisted. Matos is not a McLaren employee but works directly for Piastri, providing an additional layer of technical analysis and race strategy support.
• Continuity in Psychology: Piastri will continue working with renowned Australian sports psychologist Emma Murray, maintaining a key pillar of the mental preparation that has been a hallmark of his rapid rise.
• 2025 Context: The change follows a season where Piastri proved his elite speed, taking seven wins, but ultimately lost the championship to teammate Lando Norris after a mid-season dip in form. The addition of Matos appears directly targeted at bolstering consistency and weekend execution.

What's next:

The true test of this new structure will come under the pressure of a 24-race season. With Webber handling the business off-track and Matos providing engineering insight on it, Piastri has streamlined his path to the top. The focus for 2026 is clear: convert his undeniable speed into the relentless consistency required to dethrone his teammate and claim the crown that narrowly eluded him.