The Monaco Grand Prix will be fondly remembered by several drivers, their teams and very few others after one lap of carnage led to a limp race.
Sergio Perez’s huge crash brought out the red flag and all of a sudden the jeopardy caused by pit stops and strategy calls was immediately removed.
However, posting on Instagram after the race, former F1 race winner Mark Webber was quick to praise the efforts of one driver throughout the event.
Charles Leclerc has deservedly earned plenty of plaudits for finally winning his home race after years of bad luck.
It was a strong weekend for Ferrari in general with the Monegasque joined by Carlos Sainz on the podium after earning a reprieve under the red flag when he initially picked up a puncture.
However, Mark Webber wanted to highlight just how well McLaren star Oscar Piastri drove across the race weekend in Monaco.
The Australian sophomore has now clocked up 168 career points and is slowly catching up to the top five drivers in the standings.
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Mark Webber praises Oscar Piastri after brilliant Monaco Grand Prix
McLaren have been on an impressive upward trajectory over the past 12 months and their first major upgrade package has taken them to another level.
Lando Norris had the full set of upgrades in Miami and immediately made full use of them by taking his maiden victory.
Piastri only had half of the new parts but still ran 2 for much of that Grand Prix and only a penalty for impeding in Imola denied him a front-row start when he had an identical car to his teammate.
In Monaco, Piastri was on it all weekend and earned plaudits from Webber after splitting the Ferraris on the podium.
He could have even started on pole position if he had combined his best sector times in qualifying into one lap.
Instead, he had to settle for a front-row start alongside Leclerc and although he pushed the 26-year-old extremely hard all race, he couldn’t find a way past on a track that appears to simply be too narrow for modern F1 cars.
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Posting on his Instagram story after the race and replying to Piastri’s post on social media, Webber simply said: “3 days of class.”
Webber is Piastri’s manager and will be delighted with what he’s seen from the young Australian this season.
Lando Norris opened up an early lead on his teammate in the Drivers’ Championship after securing podium finishes in Australia and China before his win in Miami.
It’s hard to believe that standing on the rostrum in Monaco was Piastri’s first podium finish of 2024 but Webber has recognised that he’s quickly improving to the same level as his teammate.
Martin Brundle and Jenson Button were really impressed with Piastri across the race weekend.
Lewis Hamilton heading into the race suggested that Piastri has been unlucky this year and it feels like it’s only a matter of time until he achieves his first F1 Grand Prix win.
For Zak Brown and Andrea Stella, making sure Piastri and Norris stay on the same pace – and avoid an incident like what happened between the two Alpine drivers – is crucial this year.
They suddenly look like potential challengers to Red Bull at the top of the Constructors’ Championship.
They’ve come a long way in the past year after both cars finished in the bottom four in Miami.
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