RacingOscar Piastri has overhauled his trackside setup at McLaren, with Mark Webber stepping back from race-weekend duties and Pedro Matos taking a larger role by his side. The move puts more control in Piastri’s hands at the circuit, while keeping Webber involved on bigger-picture career strategy. It marks a shift in how the Australian manages his race weeks, not a split with the mentor who helped steer him to Formula 1 alongside teammate Lando Norris.
This change comes as part of a McLaren personal-team reorganization planned for 2026. Matos, who engineered Piastri’s 2021 Formula 2 title, will assume expanded trackside duties and provide direct support in the pit box. He knows how Piastri works under pressure and how he likes information delivered, which should shorten the feedback loop between driver and support staff across practice, qualifying, and the race.
Piastri says the restructure was not triggered by a single incident. With more time in F1, he feels ready to handle more technical and strategic calls himself and to ask the right questions in real time. The goal is a cleaner line from the cockpit to decision-making, with Matos close enough to act quickly while Piastri drives the discussion on setup direction and race execution.
Webber is not exiting the picture. He remains in charge of the overall direction of Piastri’s career and continues to advise him. Early in Piastri’s F1 journey, Webber’s experience helped surface issues Piastri might not have spotted on his own. That guidance continues, just less from the garage gantry and more from the wider management view.
The timing follows 2025 chatter about tension around the McLaren camp and Webber’s comments about possible preferential treatment for Norris. Piastri frames the shift as an expression of independence rather than a response to that noise. He presents it as a natural next step as he grows into the role of leading his own program, with Webber still backing him off track.
In practice, fans should expect to see less of Webber at races and more of Matos in the thick of McLaren’s weekend workflow with Piastri. The driver will shoulder a larger share of live decision-making, from setup trade-offs to strategy questions, supported by someone who already shares his working language. The structure changes, but the core relationships do not: Piastri drives, Matos feeds him, and Webber guides the path.
That balance suits where Piastri says he is now. More autonomy at the circuit. The same mentor in the background. And a familiar engineer up close when the visor goes down.