Aussie’s ‘icy’ act for McLaren boss, photo adds fuel to Oscar Piastri rumours
Oscar Piastri’s camp was left fuming at McLaren’s boss after the team dudded the Aussie, as a photo ignited the F1 rumour mill.
Oscar Piastri’s camp was left fuming with McLaren’s strategy blunder as tensions behind the scenes reach boiling point ahead of this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
McLaren’s decision not to pit Piastri and Lando Norris under a safety car during Monday’s Qatar Grand Prix, where two pit stops were mandatory, cost the Aussie victory after he drove a flawless weekend and started on pole position.
It means Piastri trails Norris by 16 points heading into the final race of the season, which shapes as a thrilling three-way fight for the drivers’ championship after Verstappen won in Qatar to close within 12 points of Norris.
A “speechless” Piastri was gutted the pit stop strategy mistake denied him the victory, and he cut a forlorn figure in the media pen as his body language showed he knew he missed out on a golden opportunity to stay in the championship fight.
The 24-year-old is now a longshot and requires a miracle in Abu Dhabi to win the title — Piastri needs to win and for Norris to DNF or finish sixth or lower.
McLaren conceded they got the pit stop call badly wrong, but that’s little comfort to Piastri as the blunder all but ended his hopes of winning the championship.
Piastri and Norris said they would discuss the strategy decision in their post-race briefing and the scenes outside McLaren’s hospitality area post-race painted a picture of simmering tensions.
Sky Sports cameras captured Piastri’s manager, Australian F1 great Mark Webber, deep in conversation on his phone outside McLaren’s hospitality area, and also speaking with Piastri’s dad Chris, who was at the race.
Watch the behind the scenes McLaren footage in the video at the top of this story
Standing just metres away were Norris’ parents, who would have been hoping to see their son clinch his maiden title in Qatar.
Pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz said: “There is camp Norris, Lando’s mum Cisca and his dad Adam.
“Mark Webber is over there on the phone, trying to find a papaya to throw in the bin.”
He added: “I mean, it’s not papaya rules (that cost McLaren victory in Qatar). The only papaya rules is that you don’t crash into each other and they try to treat each driver fairly.
“On that mark, they did — they treated both drivers with the wrong strategy call.
“You can understand why Oscar is so miffed because it just makes his job even harder. It does still rest in Lando Norris’ hands. He just has to be on the podium in Abu Dhabi to be world champion.”
Australian F1 photographer Kym Illman revealed Webber gave McLaren CEO Zak Brown an “icy look” behind the scenes after the team boss gave Piastri an awkward hug while he was completing his post-race media interviews.
“He (Brown) pulled Oscar away from an interview, gave him a hug, congratulated him on his effort,” Illman said.
“I wondered, was that a PR stunt? Was that something to show the team is united? Because they’re not. I can’t remember a team principal do that.
“Normally that takes place back at the hospitality suite when all that media stuff has been done.
“As he passed back through here, I noticed Mark Webber gave him a look.
“It was an icy look, let’s call it an icy look. And I imagine the two will be talking about this at length.
“I’m not sure Zak clocked him doing it but certainly it was noticeable. Let there be no doubt the Piastri team is very unhappy with the way things have played out over the past few weeks.
“Max was the beneficiary of some rather dubious, terrible, unbelievable calls by the team. As Oscar mentioned, they will be talking about this late into the night.
“This is looking like a classic lesson in how to throw away a world drivers’ championship.”
It comes after Webber was spotted earlier in the weekend chatting with Aston Martin car designer Adrian Newey, who was promoted to the position of team principal last week.
Newey looked in good spirits as he spoke with Webber and David Coulthard — two drivers he designed cars for during his lengthy stint with Red Bull.
It could well have just been an innocent catch-up between some former F1 stablemates, but the sight of Webber meeting with Newey adds fuel to the speculation Piastri may eventually leave McLaren.
HE DID IT https://t.co/EYmuHsFtW7pic.twitter.com/kpZcsSVpsK
— Cytrus 🋠(@cytrusf1) December 1, 2025
kym illman saying mark webber gave zak brown an “icy look†as he returned back to the motorhome after running to give oscar the Most Performative Hug Man Has Ever Seen pic.twitter.com/hcKY5QBnGT
— quinn (@hoodieoscar) December 1, 2025
Laps led in 2025:
— formularacers (@formularacers_) December 1, 2025
🇦🇺 Piastri - 435
🇳🇱 Verstappen - 413
🇬🇧 Norris - 373
🇬🇧 Russell - 103
🇲🇨 Leclerc - 48
🇮🇹 Antonelli - 11
🇬🇧 Hamilton - 2
🇹🇠Albon - 1
The team’s perceived bias towards Norris is an issue that won’t go away and there have been rumblings that Piastri’s camp may look to move him to another team — Ferrari and Aston Martin are the two teams that are mentioned as possible options.
On the even of this season Piastri signed a multi-year contract extension that reportedly keeps him at McLaren until the end of 2028.
There are plenty of parallels between Piastri’s 2025 campaign and Webber’s year with Red Bull in 2010, when he led the standings only for teammate Sebastian Vettel to come over the top and win the title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Webber said last month it’s important to remember Piastri is in just his third season in F1, while reinforcing the importance of making the most of the opportunity to contend for the championship.
“He’s so young in his career, as Seb was … but to see him so young, year three, fighting for a world title quite quickly is pretty surreal and bizarre but nice to be involved,” he said.
“A lot of drivers don’t fight for a title once in their career. You want to find the positives but of course you want to win.”
The backlash towards McLaren kept coming on Monday as Australians reacted in disbelief to the baffling call not to get a cheap pit stop in like other teams when they had the chance.
Host Tony Jones said on 3AW: “How can McLaren be so inept and yet win the constructors’ championship and also have one of their drivers poised to win the drivers’ championship.
“They’re a rabble, they really are.
“Everyone else pitted, essentially, but they didn’t. It was a stuff-up.
“Oscar Piastri is such a level headed, quiet, subdued sort of a kid. But his temper has just reached boiling point with his own team, because it seems as though McLaren has done everything within its power to thwart him becoming world champion.”
The Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix will be held on Monday morning at 12am (AEDT).
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