Oscar Piastri is likely engaging in talks with McLaren’s rival F1 teams, according to a former F1 driver.
Piastri finished a career-high third in the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Standings but will likely look back on his campaign, during which he won seven races, one sprint and secured 16 podiums, with regret, having led the championship and eventual winner Lando Norris by 34 points following the Dutch Grand Prix in August.
The Australian was also 104 points ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, only to finish one point behind the Dutchman after 24 Grand Prix events.
Between the Zandervoort race and the season’s finale in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Piastri failed to secure a single race victory, which in turn led to him finishing third in the overall standings.
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There were also several flash points between McLaren teammates Piastri and Norris throughout the campaign – namely in Monza when the team ordered a position switch to allow the Englishman to go ahead of the Australian and in Singapore when the pair banged wheels.
So, now that the 2026 season is fast approaching, with the first race set to take place in Melbourne in March, where does Piastri’s future lie?
Well, according to former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, Piastri is likely to be engaging in talks with rival teams ahead of next season.
Speaking to Motorsport Week, Montoya, who drove for the Woking-based team between 2005 and 2006, claimed that Piastri and his manager, Mark Webber, will likely already be sounding out potential alternatives to McLaren in the off-season.
“I guarantee you that Oscar Piastri and Mark Webber [his manager] are already talking to another F1 team,” he said.
“I don’t think Mark Webber was satisfied with Oscar’s development at McLaren. Mark isn’t very happy with McLaren. But the question is whether Oscar is very unhappy with McLaren.”
The Colombian then suggested that the duo need to be “careful” and make sure that Webber does not allow the “scars” from his racing career to have a say in decision-making related to Piastri’s future.
There were rumours during Webber’s career that his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel was ‘favoured’ by the manufacturer between 2009 and 2013.
However, the sounds coming out of the McLaren camp about Piastri have been positive despite him arguably throwing away a maiden title with CEO Zak Brown claiming that the 24-year-old “is going to be a world champion” in McLaren colours.
Piastri has also promised to learn from what was just his third season in F1 despite the disappointing last third of his 2025 campaign.
Topics: Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Formula 1, Lando Norris
Luke Davies