McLaren set the tone for what could be a close season between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri during the Australian Grand Prix, when they imposed team orders on both drivers.
It was the first time they decided to employ them after using ‘Papaya rules’ at last years Italian Grand Prix, something Martin Brundle thinks will be a ‘season-long’ problem at McLaren in 2025.
Their decision to tell Piastri not to attack Norris as he closed in on the Briton for the lead came in the form of the instruction ‘hold position’ as the pair were close to backmarkers.
They were closing in on lapping Oliver Bearman and teammate Esteban Ocon, which McLaren engineers wanted them to do before potentially giving up time to Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver was struggling on overheated Intermediate tyres, as the track started to dry out. Conversations between the McLaren drivers and their engineers give a picture of how it all played out over team radio via F1 TV.
Oscar Piastri grows impatient over McLaren team orders in Australian GP
Piastri closed the gap down to half a second to Norris when on Lap 29 engineer Tom Stallard gave him the instruction to ‘hold position’ while they pass Bearman and Ocon.
Will Joseph, Norris’ engineer, relayed the same thing along with discussing the plan for the next couple of laps. As they cleared them on Lap 30, Piastri grew agitated with being behind Norris in the dirty air.
| Lap | Norris | Piastri |
| 29 | Joseph: “Don’t worry about Oscar right now. We’re going to clear backmarkers and make the transition.” | Stallard: “Oscar we should hold position please, hold position. Transition to the dry, clear the backmarkers. Next one is Ocon.” |
| Piastri: “Ok, but I’m faster.” | ||
| 30 | Piastri: “Are we still holding now that we’ve cleared the traffic?” | |
| Stallard: “Yes, hold for now. Let us know your pace.” |
Piastri would go on to make a mistake at Turn 6, running wide onto the gravel and dropping back to almost four seconds to Norris. This effectively cured any headaches McLaren was going to have with pit stop priorities.
| Lap | Norris | Piastri |
| 32 | Stallard: “Okay Oscar we’re free to race now, free to race, you know the rules. Weather update, lap 43 could be more rain, heavier rain possible No rain until lap 43.” | Joseph: “Gap to Oscar is 3.4s, both of you are now free to race each other, free to race each other.” |
Fernando Alonso went off at Turn 6 almost immediately after these messages were relayed to both drivers. Following a Safety Car period, both Norris and Piastri would spin off the track as the impending rain came.
Oscar Piastri told he should have gambled on dry tyres
Piastri was the biggest loser when both drivers went off, as he effectively beached his McLaren on the grass.
After putting it into reverse, he managed to get back going again and pitted for Intermediate tyres. When he found himself towards the back of the pack, Piastri recovered to P11 and set about chasing the two Ferrari drivers.
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Marc Priestley thinks Piastri should have gambled on dry tyres at the end of the race, considering he was a lap down and out of the points anyway.
Piastri would go on to make a move on Lewis Hamilton for ninth place, which Martin Brundle said the Ferrari driver ‘won’t enjoy’ watching back.
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