Team orders and a mistake: The calls that cost pragmatic Piastri a podium in Melbourne

By Matthew Clayton

March 24, 2024 — 7.26pm

Oscar Piastri was pragmatic after being asked by McLaren to move aside for teammate Lando Norris in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, the Australian driver calling the team order “completely fair” after finishing fourth in his second race at home at Albert Park.

Piastri, who started in fifth place and two spots behind his teammate, was pitted before Norris on lap nine to cover off the Mercedes of George Russell, who stopped earlier in a bid to undercut the Australian.

Piastri takes a pit stop.Credit: Getty Images

Norris emerged from his own pit stop five laps later behind Piastri, but the Briton’s formidable pace saw McLaren order its drivers to swap position on lap 28 of the 58-lap race to allow Norris to attack Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second.

While Norris failed by 3.5 seconds to usurp Leclerc, Piastri had no issue with McLaren ordering him to drop behind, admitting Norris was simply faster in the second stint of the race.

“For me, it was completely fair,” Piastri said after Norris took McLaren’s first podium in Melbourne since 2014.

“He qualified in front of me yesterday and went a bit longer on the first [pit] stop, and he was catching me and was quicker at that point of the race. At that point, I was keeping with Leclerc, but Lando was catching both of us. I was honestly hoping he’d pass me and go and get Charles. Of course at home I would have loved to have been able to stay in third, but it was completely fair.”

Piastri later ran wide at turn 13 of the 14-corner layout, careering across the grass on lap 38 and losing four seconds on his chance of a maiden Melbourne podium.

“I pushed turn 12 a bit more, a bit out of position, the tyres a bit hotter … it doesn’t take much to get it wrong,” he said.

“It didn’t change my result, just a bit clumsy. In the grand scheme of things, a slap on the wrist for myself.”

Piastri, after finishing fourth for the second race in succession, leaves Melbourne in fifth place in the championship standings, one point and one position ahead of Norris, who took his 14th career podium without a victory; now an F1 record.

Oscar Piastri takes stock of the race with McLaren CEO Zak Brown.Credit: Getty Images

“For me, it’s been a strong weekend. A couple of mistakes when it mattered which was a bit frustrating, but today has been a solid result,” Piastri said.

“I would have loved to have been one spot higher, but for the team I think it’s been an amazing weekend with gap to Ferrari being a lot smaller.

“I didn’t quite expect to have this kind of pace around here, so it’s been a positive start, a clean start to the year as well. I feel like I’ve made a step forward in some areas, but there’s still some work to go.”

Compatriot Daniel Ricciardo’s difficult start to 2024 continued on Sunday, the 34-year-old finishing 12th for RB to remain pointless from the opening three grands prix of the season.

Ricciardo, who started last after his best lap in qualifying was scrubbed for breaching track limits on Saturday, moved steadily forward in the race from 18th place, but was no match for teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the third straight weekend, the Japanese driver finishing eighth for RB’s first points of the year.

“I felt like the frustration I’d kind of put aside for today,” he said after starting from last place at his home race.

“I let that go last night. I didn’t end up breaking anything. I felt like some objects were going to get smashed after qualifying, but maybe there’s a bit of calm with age.

“It’s nice there were moments in the race where I did have pace and I was able to show, OK, I can still get some good stints in there.”

Ricciardo’s fastest lap of the race, a 1:21.239 on lap 46, was just 0.105 slower than Tsunoda’s best single lap, an encouraging improvement after Tsunoda comprehensively had his measure in Bahrain and Jeddah.

“Obviously, the weekend I would’ve loved to have gone better, but I think we’ve just got to keep our eyes on the prize,” he said.

“It hasn’t been the best three races to start the season, for sure. I wouldn’t say there’s any panic. I would’ve loved this season to have started better, but we’ll just keep digging.”

Freelance journalist Matthew Clayton has been covering F1 for 25 years for several outlets, including redbull.com.

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