McLaren’s decision to forbid its drivers from racing each other for three laps during the Australian Grand Prix was justified because of the conditions, says Lando Norris.
The team told Oscar Piastri to hold position behind him while the pair were running first and second between laps 29 and 32 of the race. They gave the instruction after telling Piastri they were approaching the Haas cars of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman to lap them.
Meanwhile Norris was told “don’t worry about Oscar for now” while the team “clear backmarkers and make the transition”.
Piastri had closed to within six-tenths of a second when the instruction was given. By the time it was lifted the gap between them had risen to 2.7 seconds, as Piastri had run wide in turn six.
Norris said the team was correct to impose the order while they lapped backmarkers, which potentially involved going off the racing line onto much wetter parts of the track.
“I didn’t really know about it because they said it to Oscar, not to me,” he said. “And it was literally just for two or three laps as we went through the backmarkers.
“It was risky conditions, and we’d look like complete idiots if we attempted to race and both ended up off the track, or worse, out of the race, when we had a great result in hand. It was just for a couple of laps that they asked us to hold position, and then he was free to race again.”
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After the pair passed the Haas drivers, Piastri asked the team “are we still holding?” He was told “hold for now.” The team changed the instruction on the next lap.
The McLaren drivers claimed the front row of the grid for the grand prix and said beforehand they were free to race. Norris said that was the case at all times in the race except when the “hold position” order was enforced.
“We were free to race all the way up until that point and then there was just a holding period for a few laps,” he said. “After that, it was back to normal. I think that’s all I really knew about it.”
McLaren drew criticism last year for declining to impose orders upon their drivers even as Norris closed on Max Verstappen in the championship standings. Norris said they will continue to evolve their tactics.
“I’m sure we’ll talk about it more, we even had a little chat about it this morning,” he said. “But from the team’s perspective, it wasn’t about me or Oscar, it was about McLaren – we’re first and second, let’s not do anything silly when we don’t need to.
“There’s still a lot of opportunity left for Oscar to race me, and it would have been stupid to try and force a situation when we’re behind backmarkers, blue flags. If you go off-line at that part of the race, you’re in the wall.
“At that stage of the race, I was still [thinking] I need to get these tyres to last until lap 54 or whatever. I think Oscar was just pushing a bit more and trying to get past me. But it was all comfortable from my side.”
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