“It’s the shortest lap of the year, a 78-lap grand prix. You have to have immense confidence: your eyeline is low, the barriers are high, you’ve got snappers sometimes leaning over the fence, so you’ve got flashes [in your eyes].
Webber, driving for Red Bull Racing, crosses the finishing line to win the Monaco F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Monaco in May 2012. Getty
“Everyone’s on top of you there, the boats, it’s like it’s just a fine ribbon of asphalt running through all the buildings … It can be quite intimidating. But it’s the Wimbledon for us, the most special race on the calendar.”
It’s not the only tough circuit. Webber cites Suzuka in Japan as another particularly punishing circuit. “Oscar’s got to have as many strings to his bow as possible, obviously. He knows that he’s got to be building experience at every single venue around the world. And he will do that. I think on Sunday night he’ll look back and say there are always areas to improve. So that’ll be his job in Monaco: to survive the weekend. A clean weekend is always important there.
Webber during practice for the 2012 Japanese F1 Grand Prix on the challenging Suzuka Circuit. Getty
“I think his emotional regulation is important around that track too, to not bite off too much mentally and just build up.”
Webber says among the other advantages Piastri brings are his very precise driving style, which is easy on machinery and leads to very few mistakes. “The amount of equipment he’s gone through is incredibly minimalistic. That’s a big feather in his cap at this point, but of course at some point he’ll make mistakes, have incidents. It doesn’t matter who you are, you know, every double or triple world champion, they’ve all made mistakes, but Oscar’s here to learn in his first year.”
Piastri gearing up for a practice run ahead of the F1 Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, late last month. Getty
The problem so far has been Piastri’s McLaren. The team seems to be even further off the pace than last year, and Piastri’s highly experienced (and highly rated) teammate, Englishman Lando Norris, has been similarly unable to shine.
Webber, now 46 and living mostly in Monaco, says there is “zero chance” that he will ever attempt a racing comeback, as so many bored ex-drivers do (Jack Brabham raced in the Bathurst 1000 in his fifties). He has made himself super-busy after racing as a Porsche ambassador, consultant and test driver, an ambassador for Rolex and Red Bull, an F1 commentator and now a sports manager. With Ann Webber, he represents not just Piastri but Kiwi Formula E star Mitch Evans, Javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Barber and others.
Webber is also an executive producer at Noah Media, which makes sports documentaries. It recently released a new film about the fatal rivalry between F1 drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Didier Pironi.
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