Oscar Piastri finished just one place shy of the podium at places at his home race in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, with McLaren controversially issuing team orders but the youngster says he had no issues with them.
Andrea Stella‘s team made the call to switch Piastri with Lando Norris on Lap 29 as they chased after Charles Leclerc and possibly Carlos Sainz depending on their pace in the second half of the race around the Albert Park Circuit.
Yet they could not catch either Ferrari and as a result, Norris finished third whilst Piastri had to settle for fourth. Despite that, the 22-year-old feels they were more than fair due to the pace difference across the weekend.
“For me, it was completely fair,” Piastri said to the media after the race. “Lando qualified in front of me yesterday, he went a bit longer on the first stop and he was catching me and quicker at that point of the race.
“I was was keeping with Leclerc, and Lando was catching both of us, so I was honestly kind of hoping he’d get past me and go and get Charles, but yeah that was completely fair.
“Of course, at home, I would have loved to be able to say in third.”
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McLaren should be positive despite losing race win
McLaren will probably feel disappointed that they didn’t get to climb onto the top step of the podium for the first time since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, but the gap to Ferrari being so small was very encouraging for the team.
If Max Verstappen hadn’t DNF’d on Lap 4 and had gone on to win, the disappointment wouldn’t exist as much as everyone expects him to win these days so for Piastri, he’s focusing on the race pace delta over the classified results.
“I would have loved to have been one sport higher,” Piastri added. “But I think for the team, it’s been an amazing weekend and honestly, [I’m] very happy with the gap to Ferrari, especially being a lot smaller this weekend.”
He added: “I didn’t quite expect to have this kind of pace around here, so it’s been a positive start and, I think, a clean start to the year as well, which has been good.
“I feel like I’ve made a step forward in some areas still some some work to go but Yeah, honestly, pretty happy with with this weekend.”
