McLaren

Lando Norris issues 'idiotic' statement after McLaren controversy

The choice to give team orders in Australia was controversial

Chris Deeley

Saturday 22 March 2025 03:00

Lando Norris has discussed McLaren's controversial team orders between himself and his Formula 1 team-mate Oscar Piastri at the Australian Grand Prix.

Despite having the chance of a home win, Piastri was told by the team to not overtake Norris for a period where he was faster than the British driver.

Team boss Zak Brown had said on Sky Sports just a handful of laps earlier that the pair would be allowed to race if the Australian caught up to his team-mate, before that immediately appeared to be proven wrong.

Speaking ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Norris claimed he wasn't aware that his team-mate had been instructed not to go all out against him, but defended the decision as being specifically for the period when the pair were passing lapped cars.

Norris 'didn't know' about McLaren team orders

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“I didn’t know they said that to Oscar," he said. "And they said it for two or three laps when we were overtaking lapped cars in tricky conditions . We would have looked like idiots if we had tried to race and gone off track because of it.

"It was for a couple of laps when they asked him to hold the position, but we have the freedom to drive and race, it was just for those three laps of overtaking lapped cars.

He added: "At that point I was mostly thinking about keeping the tires until lap 50, and Oscar was pushing a bit harder to catch me. But it was all good on my part."

McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Australian Grand Prix Chinese Grand Prix Zak Brown