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Webber dismisses "nonsense" Piastri speculation

NEWS STORY
11/07/2026

Mark Webber has described talk of Oscar Piastri and McLaren parting company as "nonsense".

The former racer and Grand Prix winner manages the Australian driver, and was reacting to increasing talk of Max Verstappen heading to the Woking outfit.

"Oscar is contracted to McLaren for the foreseeable future," Webber told Racer{/}. "Talk of him agitating to leave is nonsense."

Another difficult weekend, which saw the Dutchman crash out with a rear wing failure, came just days after a similar failure during qualifying in Austria.

Verstappen was quick to describe the incidents as "dangerous", which, when coupled with the comparative lack of competitiveness of the car, has fuelled talk of him seeking an alternative berth for 2027.

While long linked with Mercedes, McLaren has increasingly come into the picture, and with Lando Norris clearly the 'favoured son', media and online speculation has obviously pointed to the second seat at the Papaya team.

"There has been a lot of fiction written about him and other teams," said Webber of his charge. "McLaren have repeatedly said they want him for the long term and Oscar is focused on that.

Last week, team boss, Zak Brown was adamant that Piastri remains part of his team's future.

"I'm very happy with my two racing drivers, Lando and Oscar," he told reporters. "Any time a name like Max is thrown around everyone gets pretty excited," he added, but I'm very happy with our driver line-up."

Pressed harder, and asked what McLaren might offer the four-time world champion to Woking, the American insisted: "I haven't really thought about it because I've got two drivers in the seats. So, what I couldn't offer him was a seat in my race car."

Admitting that there had been a few brief talks, Brown added: "They didn't go anywhere. I've got my two drivers, so there's nothing to report."

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