Lando Norris secured a podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix over the past weekend following a strategic decision from the McLaren team.
Despite this, Norris firmly believes he could have overtaken his teammate Oscar Piastri for third place without the intervention of McLaren’s team orders. During the race at Melbourne’s Albert Park, McLaren made the call for both drivers to swap positions on lap 29.
This decision saw local favorite Piastri conceding third place to Norris. Prior to the team order, Norris had been trailing behind his teammate for several laps. However, once the swap was executed, Norris managed to pull away and secure his spot on the podium.
When questioned about his feelings towards Piastri, who missed out on a podium finish in his home race, Norris responded to the media, stating, “It depends on how you look at it.”
“I was a lot quicker, and I would have overtaken him anyway. It’s just you don’t want to delay the process of that happening.
“The longer I spent behind him, the worse it was making my chance of catching Charles [Lecelrc] and trying to be ahead of Charles.
“I don’t think the result changed at all.”
Norris clinched McLaren’s inaugural podium of the ongoing F1 season, finishing just behind Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Piastri stood by the team’s decision post-race, asserting that it was entirely justified.
With this outcome contributing to McLaren’s extension of the gap between themselves and Mercedes in the constructors’ championship, Norris commended Piastri’s collaborative effort.
“He made my life easier and I think he helped us as a team which I thank him for a lot,” he stated. “We have a lot of respect for one another in these kind of situations.
“I don’t think the result changed at all. But yeah, for any driver who’s racing in front of their home fans, you want to be on the podium.
“So I don’t think I would ever take anything away from that or for what Oscar has provided and helped for in the team. But I don’t think the end result changed, no matter what.”
