Oscar Piastri has no qualms with his McLaren Formula 1 team’s choice to use team orders against him to allow Lando Norris through in the Australian Grand Prix.
Piastri was running two positions behind his team-mate in fourth when Ferrari and McLaren opted to cover Mercedes’ earlier pit stop for George Russell on Lap 9.
But rather than box the lead driver on the road, the Woking-based squad called in Piastri, who undercut Norris once the Briton pitted for the first time four laps later.
But McLaren ordered Piastri to let his team-mate through at the mid-point, with Norris charging on with his forlorn bid to recover the lost place to Charles Leclerc.
Although he admits he desired a podium on home soil, Piastri accepts that allowing Norris to utilise his pace advantage on fresher rubber was the correct decision.
“For me, it was completely fair,” Piastri said. “He qualified in front of me yesterday, went a bit longer on the first stop and he was catching me and was quicker at that point of the race.
“At that point, I was keeping with Leclerc and Lando was catching both of us, so I was honestly kind of hoping he’d be past me and go and get Charles.
“Of course, at home, I would have loved to be able to stay in third. But for me, that was completely fair.”
Having headed Norris in two out of the three practice sessions, Piastri rued committing “too many mistakes” on his final flying lap in qualifying as he ended up sixth.
Despite a lock-up into the penultimate corner – which he branded “a slap on the wrist” – costing him four seconds in the race, Piastri was enthused with McLaren’s pace.
“I think for me it’s been a strong weekend. A couple of mistakes when it mattered which is a bit frustrating but today’s been a solid result,” he added.
“A little bit of an off in the middle of the end of the second stint, and grained the tyres a little bit there as well, so just struggled a bit in that part of the race.
“I just couldn’t really get them back, so some things to learn and go through and see what I could have done a bit better. Apart from that it was a pretty strong day.
“For me, the biggest surprise was honestly Sergio Perez’s pace. I was expecting him to come through and he didn’t. So, that’s probably a bit of optimism for everyone else on the grid.”
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