Oscar Piastri has denied talk of a rift with his long-time mentor and manager Mark Webber.

This season, Webber has visibly taken a step back, with Piastri's former F2 engineer, Pedro Matos, becoming the 'face' of the McLaren driver's management.

This has led to speculation of a rift between the two Piastri and Webber, a man known for his outspokenness, which the McLaren driver has denied.

"I'm still very much involved, and I've still spoken to him a lot through the start of the year," Piastri told Fox Sports. "I'm getting more experience in my own career, and there's also an element of I've just got more experience, so I can make some of these decisions, ask some of these questions myself.

"Especially the first couple of years, there were a lot of questions that hadn't even crossed my mind that Mark was asking as if they were obvious to me and the team," he added. "I think now some of those questions come a lot more naturally for me. It's just a natural evolution, really."

Having taken the 2025 title fight down to the wire, much was expected of Piastri this season, but, based on the evidence of the opening races, McLaren will be hard-pressed to mount a successful defence of its title(s).

Though on a "multi-year" contract with the Woking team, there is speculation that Piastri - and particularly Webber - have been looking elsewhere, though the options would appear severely limited.

While Max Verstappen has been linked with McLaren, the Woking outfit appears to be very much a one-man team, as has been the case with the Dutchman's present outfit.

Furthermore, on the evidence thus far, the Australian has more chance of becoming a multi-world champion than his current teammate.

We could be in for some very big surprises over the coming months in terms of driver musical chairs, and one has a sneaking suspicion that this is how Webber might be spending his time... after all, he has history, just ask Alpine.