Norris has little sympathy for Piastri: 'It wouldn't have changed anything'

Every driver wants to be on the podium at their home race. For Oscar Piastri, this almost became a reality in Australia, but his teammate, Lando Norris, was ahead of him.

After a strong qualifying session for the McLaren team and due to Sergio Perez's penalty, Lando Norris started the Australian Grand Prix from third and Oscar Piastri started the race from fourth. For a while, a podium in the Australian's home country seemed possible for Piastri.

By changing tyres earlier than his teammate, Piastri eventually found himself ahead of Norris. The Briton was only a lot faster than the Australian, so McLaren opted to let the two swap places. This ultimately meant that Piastri would not be able to achieve a podium anyway.

Norris understands the team's choice

Norris has little sympathy for his teammate and thinks the team's choice was justified. "It depends 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 he was making my chance of catching Charles and trying to be ahead of Charles. I don't think the result changed at all."

The McLaren driver is grateful for Piastri's professionalism in this kind of situation. "He made my life easier and I think he helped us as a team, which I thank him for a lot. We have a lot of respect for one another in these kind of situations. But 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. I wouldn’t ever take anything away from that or for what Oscar has provided and then helped for in the team. But I don't think the end result changed no matter what."