The Australian stepped up to a McLaren race seat for 2023 after spending last year as Alpine reserve and test driver.
With McLaren’s car not being as quick as the team had hoped, it has not been the smoothest of rookie campaigns for Piastri, but he feels he is making progress.
And he has singled out the assistance that Webber, a veteran of 217 grands prix, is giving him – both in terms of how he helped prepare him for the challenges of F1, but also in making the most of dealing with the team.
“Coming into this year I think my personality was quite relaxed, maybe a little bit too relaxed for Mark’s liking at some points,” said Piastri in an interview with Autosport.
“His advice was to not underestimate the challenge of Formula 1 and how big of a step up it is, not just from the cars but from everything: the amount of people you need to interact with, the media commitments, and the sponsor commitments. It's all much higher than before.
“I think having him reminding me of that before the season started was nice, so not to be shocked when I arrived. That's probably been the biggest thing.
“But he's very helpful with small driving tips here and there as well, and sometimes thinking of questions for the engineers that don't even come to my head at the moment.
“He's still very sharp. He thinks like a racing driver still and is always trying to get the best out of me.”
Source: Autosport