Although Oscar Piastri accepts the moment McLaren told him to hold position at the Australian Grand Prix was just a “minor” part in the story of the race, he will speak with his team to “try and understand better” why they made that call.

McLaren looked to be on course for the 1-2 at the Albert Park season-opener, the only question was would it be Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri on the top step of the podium.

Oscar Piastri: I’m faster, but okay

Having dropped the Red Bull of Max Verstappen after the Dutchman initially took second off Piastri on the opening lap, Piastri ran second behind Norris on a sodden Albert Park circuit and closed in on his team-mate’s rear wing.

Piastri’s race engineer Tom Stallard got on the radio: “We should hold position, transition to the dry and clear the backmarkers.”

Piastri replied, “I’m faster, but okay.”

But having used up his intermediate tyres to hunt down his team-mate, when the message that he was “free to race, you know the rules” came through on Lap 32, it was too late for Piastri as a moment at Turn 6 had dropped him two seconds behind Norris.

More on the Australian Grand Prix

👉 2025 Australian Grand Prix – F1 standings after Round 1 of F1 2025 season

👉 2025 Australian Grand Prix – Official F1 results (Albert Park)

Piastri’s efforts to at least secure a podium at his home Grand Prix, a race that no Australian has ever won, came to naught 10 or so laps later as the rain came down hard.

Norris, still leading the race, went off with Piastri mimicking his team-mate. But while Norris returned to the track and immediately pitted, Piastri got back onto the track only to slide off the other side and into the grass, where he was stuck as he searched for reverse.

He was able to rejoin but was outside of the points and only recovered to a record a P9 as his first result of the F1 2025 season.

The disappointed Aussie concedes that hold position moments was only a “minor” part in Sunday’s story.

“We were holding position before that,” he told the media in Melbourne. “I think by the time we were free to race, it kind of killed my front left a little bit getting to the back of Lando. By that point, there wasn’t much I could do.

“So, yeah, I think that was probably a pretty minor moment in the race.”

He though, will speak with McLaren to establish all the facts and reasons why he even told to stay behind his team-mate.

“I think today’s race and the circumstances were pretty extreme,” he added. “We were approaching backmarkers, one dry line, not knowing if there’s gonna be rain to come. So I’ll speak to the team and try and understand better what the thing was.

“But you know, I think it’s always clear that those kind of calls can come in either direction.”

But Piastri’s revelation that the McLaren team-mates were holding position “before that” message was broadcast, had pundits and fans questioning whether McLaren’s team orders, which would potentially deny him a home win, had thrown him off his stride,

That was put to McLaren team boss Zak Brown, who replied: “I don’t think it had anything to do with it. The pit wall kind of released them to go racing, and we just wanted to make sure we cleared the traffic, so we held for a moment.

“It looked like he dropped a wheel and then fell back to bit of a gap. But I just think they were pushing really hard in tricky conditions.”

With McLaren looking to be the team to beat this season, their team orders – eloquently dubbed ‘papaya rules’ – promises to be one of the intriguing storylines of F1 2025.

“It’s going to be a season-long problem at McLaren,” Martin Brundle said in Sky F1 commentary. “We knew it, and here it is.”

Read next: Australian GP conclusions: Norris 2.0, the Max factor and why Hamilton needs time