Formula One 2024: Oscar Piastri shoots down claims he was actively seeking a move to Red Bull
Reports that Oscar Piastri was actively seeking a move to Red Bull have rocked F1 and the Aussie who has already claimed two race wins this year with McLaren has now had his say.
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Oscar Piastri has shot down claims from Helmut Marko that his management was actively seeking discussions with Red Bull, declaring he is “very happy” at McLaren.
The Red Bull advisor sparked fierce speculation ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix when he suggested Piastri’s manager Mark Webber was chasing talks with the energy drink squad.
Piastri is in his second season with McLaren and it was announced in September last year the Australian young gun had signed a multi-year extension with the papaya squad until the end of the 2026 season.
The Melbourne-born racer is one of Formula 1’s biggest stars on the rise, claiming two race wins this year in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
Already considered to be a future world champion by many F1 pundits, Piastri and teammate Lando Norris have formed a strong combination at McLaren, lifting the team to the top of the constructor’s standings this year ahead of Red Bull.
But Marko caused some waves when he suggested Webber, who was a nine-time grand prix winner for Red Bull during his F1 career, could be hunting for a new home for Piastri.
“Let’s put it this way: Mark Webber is intensively seeking conversation with Red Bull,” Marko told F1 Insider.
Marko’s comments, however, were quickly rejected by Piastri, who said there was no truth to the claims when he addressed the media in Mexico.
“I think we all know that Helmut says a lot of things in the press,” Piastri said ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
“As far as I’m aware there’s no truth to it.”
Piastri, who sits fourth in the F1 driver standings, added he was happy at McLaren, which is on target to win the constructors’ crown for the first time since 1998, holding a 40-point lead over Red Bull.
“I’m very, very happy where I am,” Piastri said.
“The team have supported me massively since I came into F1, they gave me my opportunity in F1.
“At the moment in the standings we’re in a very happy place, so I am more than happy with where I am at the moment.”
The more immediate focus for Piastri was to bounce back in Mexico from what he described as an “average weekend” at the United States Grand Prix in Austin where he finished fifth.
“It was an average weekend, I would say - not terrible, but just not to the high standards I guess we’re used to now, which is in some ways quite a nice thing,” Piastri said.
“But definitely some things after the weekend that I think if we went back again, we’d probably try a few things differently.
“And yeah, just not the smoothest of weekends from my side especially. Not our finest, but still a good haul of points I would say.”
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