Oscar Piastri wants McLaren talks over ‘hold position’ order

Oscar Piastri says he will speak to McLaren to better understand the team’s decision to impose team orders during the F1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren’s drivers insisted they would be free to race each other after locking out the front-row of the Melbourne grid in qualifying, but both were told to hold their positions when Piastri caught race-leader Lando Norris around mid-distance.

“Oscar we should hold position please, hold position. Transition to the dry, clear the backmarkers,. Next one is Ocon,” Piastri was told on Lap 29 by race engineer Tom Stallard. Norris received a similar message at the same time.

Piastri was heard responding: “Okay. I’m faster, but okay.”

A lap later, in a radio exchange which was not broadcast, Piastri asked his race engineer: “Are we still holding now that we’ve cleared the traffic?” Stallard replied: “Yes, hold for now. Let us know your pace.”

Norris was informed the ‘hold position’ order had been lifted a few laps later.

A couple of wide moments at Turn 6 dropped Piastri out of DRS range from Norris, who would go on to beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the win after home favourite Piastri spun off during the late rain shower.

“We were holding position before that,” said Piastri, who ultimately recovered to ninth. “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.”

Piastri added: “I think today’s race and the circumstances were pretty extreme. 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.”

McLaren boss explains instruction

McLaren CEO Zak Brown attempted to clear up the team order message after the race and insisted he did not believe it had put Piastri off his stride.

“That was just a ‘hold’ while we were coming up on the lapped traffic just to make sure we can both get through that,” he told Channel 4. “They were free to race.

“Actually, once we cleared it, Oscar I think dropped a wheel [into the gravel], which was kind of a bit of a ‘phew, okay, they’re not that close to each other’.

“They’re free to race, but I knew I was going to bite my nails the rest of the race.”