Nine-time GP winner Mark Webber, who is also Piastri’s manager and mentor, says the Alpine Academy driver has got to be on the Formula 1 grid by 2023 at the latest.

But his claims have a strong backing as Piastri has had a huge rise and success in the last few years. The Australian won the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019, the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020, and most recently the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2021.

There were rumors that the 20-year-old would take a seat in Alfa Romeo F1 team for the 2022 season, but despite his success he will not be upgraded to Formula 1 next year. He doesn’t have a seat in the series but he was assigned the reserve driver role for Alpine.

Webber, while speaking on Episode 3 of KTM Summer Grill, said that his protégé has done everything necessary to earn a seat in the series that is considered the pinnacle of Motorsport.

“Absolutely, that’s a must,” he said when asked if 2023 was the target year.

“It’s the latest that has to happen. I think we’re all aware of that. So yeah, ‘23 is the latest, but there could be opportunities of course before that, which you never know.

“He’s in a good position. He’s going to get a lot of mileage next year and he’s of course highly motivated and hungry,” said Webber praising Oscar.

“Obviously he’s been on a phenomenal roll, the three championships on the bounce,” he added.

“He couldn’t have done a great deal more. It was really the way he dominated the Formula 2 Championship this year.

“We all know, there’s no one questioning that he deserves to go up to Formula 1 next year, but it’s just the way the market rolled out. There just wasn’t many seats available. The rotation just wasn’t there.

“He certainly went on a bit of a rampage to finish the year off. That was really special to see with the five poles in a row and plenty of wins and fastest laps and obviously no one in the field had an answer for him, which was brilliant to see.”

But as it is known, the sport is unpredictable and there is no say as when Piastri will get the opportunity to be on the F1 grid.

He is linked to Alpine at the moment, but both of their drivers are under contract with them. Esteban Ocon’s being a long term deal tying the frenchman to the team until the end of 2024 while Fernando Alonso is with them just for one more season.

The Spaniard had a strong return to Formula 1, scoring points in 14 out of 22 races, including a great result in Qatar which saw him on the third step of the podium.

But Webber has some opinion on the contracts and driver’s duration with the team.

“I think that it’s all relative,” he said.

“Those guys are performing well, but you never know how well until someone comes in and does a different job, right? That’ll be measured throughout the year. You’ll see how their [Alpine’s] appetite is.

“Esteban is on a long contract there, Fernando is performing well, but of course, Alpine are under no illusions that the ball is firmly in their court and the pressure is on them to find options and make decisions for Oscar’s career because he’s delivered everything they’ve asked him to.

“It’s up to them to now work with Oscar and ourselves to make sure that in ‘23, he’s on the grid at the first race.”