Smedley and Safnauer advise Piastri not to leave McLaren.

      We have already talked about the rumors that Oscar Piastri is considering a move from McLaren to another team. Presumably, it is about Red Bull Racing, which, in the event of Max Verstappen's departure, is ready to guarantee Piastri better conditions than he currently has at McLaren.

      However, Rob Smedley, a former racing engineer for Ferrari and Williams, advises Oscar not to leave McLaren just for the status of being the number one driver in another team.

      "If you find it hard to compete against your teammate, and I am currently recalling my experience working with such a driver at Ferrari [referring to Felipe Massa], then what options do you have?" Smedley reflects in the High Performance podcast. "You can move to a worse team where you won't have a chance at the title, but you will be the best of the two drivers there.

      I have seen such examples many times. I have seen drivers follow this scenario, but I have never seen it yield good results. I have never seen a driver be satisfied with their choice after some time."

      Former Formula 1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer agrees with Smedley: "There is a team that you do not consider the best, but you still move there to become the number one. It is quite possible that you will become that, but then that team has to grow to become the best. And that happens much less frequently.

      In Formula 1, there are periods of dominance by one team that last six to seven years, as in the case of Mercedes, or four to five years, as in the case of Red Bull, or ten years, as in the case of Ferrari during Michael Schumacher's time.

      If during those ten years you are in the role of the second driver at Ferrari, you might decide to move to another team to become the number one. But in doing so, you will be moving to a team that has not been able to become the best for ten years or so."