In his print media session ahead of the F1 Chinese GP, Oscar Piastri says good discussions happened with McLaren following the team orders that got briefly put in place at the Australian GP last Sunday involving him and teammate Lando Norris.
What happened at the Australian GP involving McLaren, Piastri, Norris and team orders
As Oscar Piastri got within DRS of teammate Lando Norris for the lead in the Australian GP, the Aussie’s race engineer Tom Stallard came over the radio to tell him to hold position.
This came about as the McLaren duo had caught the Haas cars of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon as the American-owned team had no pace in Melbourne. In the tricky conditions, McLaren played it very safe and wanted Norris and Piastri to work their way through without fighting each other.
A couple of laps later they were free to race again. Piastri made a mistake at turn 6, allowing Norris to gap him before the complete chaos unfolded once the switch to dry tyres occurred.
The home hero slid off the road and got stuck in the grass, before he heroically reversed his way out of trouble. While he dropped to the back, he ultimately finished P9.
Oscar Piastri pleased with the talks that took place with McLaren
While Piastri understood the caution McLaren used in the F1 Australian GP regarding those team orders, he says good talks took place between Melbourne and the F1 Chinese GP in Shanghai to make sure it’s done in a better way in the future.
“We’ve had some good discussions through the week about the things that we potentially could have done better and things we could have done differently.
“I think I understand the circumstances, and of course when you have two guys in the lead like that, it’s kind of natural to want to protect that.
“But I think there’s been some very good discussions about how we can, if we need to implement them in the future, how we can do a better job of that.
“So it’s been an encouraging week and I’m satisfied with the discussions we’ve had.”
Oscar Piastri on his performance at the F1 Australian GP
The 2025 F1 Australian GP marked the start of a third season in the sport for Oscar Piastri. All of them have been with McLaren.
2024 saw the 23-year-old score his first wins in Formula 1, winning in Budapest and Baku. However, the season was also marked by massively inconsistent levels of form. He was thumped by Norris at times, with Zandvoort, Singapore and Mexico three examples.
In his home city of Melbourne last weekend, Piastri had a very encouraging start. He was less than a tenth off pole in qualifying. On race day he was keeping teammate Norris very honest until that moment in turn 12, and then sliding off at turn 13.
Not a steady level of progress but confident for the future
While he admitted his progress in his first two seasons has not been smooth sailing and at a constant level, Piastri is confident his strong speed in Australia is proof he can be a regular contender for wins.
“Again, because it’s just been one race, I don’t want to say this is my new style or my new baseline.
“I think I proved to myself last year that the progress isn’t going to be linear. I felt like through especially the middle part of last season, I felt very strong and very comfortable. And towards the back end of the year, there were some more difficult races again. So I don’t think it’s linear.
“But I certainly went into Melbourne with a lot of determination and ambition to put my best foot forward. And I felt like I delivered that.
“So I’m encouraged by just the feelings I had within myself from last weekend. And I’m excited to try and keep that going forward.
“I think obviously qualifying on pole position would have helped my case on Sunday.
“But I think with how the rest of the weekend went, I’m happy that I’ll get there.”
A solid start to the F1 Chinese GP weekend
Oscar Piastri has continued his good start to 2025 as he was the lead McLaren in Sprint qualifying in Shanghai. He starts P3 for Saturday’s 19-lap showdown.
