F1 News: Oscar Piastri Addresses Red Bull Rumors - 'Helmut Says A Lot In The Media'

Saajan Jogia | Oct 25, 2024

Oct 18, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; McLaren Formula 1 Team driver Oscar Piastri (81) of Team Australia walks through the track entrance before practice for the 2024 US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has opened up on speculation relating him to a potential move to Red Bull in the future after Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko hinted at a future move. Piastri also admitted that despite McLaren's lead in the Constructors' Championship, it is important to remain "on top of our game" to maintain position.

Ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, Marko informed the media that Piastri’s manager, former F1 driver Mark Webber, was interested in discussing a potential future move to Red Bull. However, Piastri, who joined McLaren in 2023 and has a contract until the end of 2026, has dismissed the rumors, stating that he is "more than happy" to continue with McLaren. He told the media at Thursday's press briefing:

“I think we all know that Helmut says a lot of things in the press. As far as I’m aware there’s no truth to it.”

He added:

“I’m very, very happy where I am.

“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.”

Referring to the United States GP weekend, Piastri emphasized that there were a few things the team could have done differently. He added:

“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.

“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.”

Despite the hiccup in Austin, where Piastri finished fifth, one spot below his teammate Lando Norris in fourth, the 23-year-old reckons the USGP weekend "was not as bad as what people thought," highlighting that his team still packs a strong punch to extend and maintain its lead in the Constructors' Championship amid the tightening competition. He added:

“I think our pace [in Austin] was not as bad as what people thought, it certainly wasn’t terrible.

“[But] when you come from the weekend before [in Singapore], when Lando [Norris] won by 20-something seconds, nothing’s going to look as good as that.

“I think we’re still pretty positive that we can be winning a lot of races at the end of the year, but Ferrari have looked strong for a while. Red Bull look to be more competitive as well, so the competition is just very, very tight still.

“I don’t think there’s any alarm bells, so to speak, but we do need to be on top of our game. But certainly in the constructors’ championship we’re still in the position to be in which is at the front, but of course we want to try and keep that lead and extend where we can.”