Oscar Piastri's stunning response after Aussie 'screwed' by own team at Australian Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri has offered a selfless response after being denied a podium finish in the Australian F1 Grand Prix by his own team, describing McLaren's order for him to move aside for teammate Lando Norris as "completely fair". Piastri found himself in third position during his home grand prix on Sunday, but finished fourth after his own team ordered him to yield to British teammate Norris.

It meant Piastri agonisingly missed out on becoming the first Aussie driver to finish on the podium at the Australian Grand Prix in its 28-year history at Albert Park. “Piastri is now being told to swap positions and to move aside and let your teammate through and that’s exactly what he’s done,” commentator David Croft said at the time.

“That must feel especially horrible in your home race. But as we’ve often seen with Oscar Piastri, the team asks you to do something, he does it, he doesn’t complain, he’ll have a debrief later.”

Why McLaren ordered Oscar Piastri to yield for Lando Norris

Co-commentator Martin Brundle explained that McLaren's decision was probably correct. “What goes around comes around and they probably need to release Norris a little bit," he said. "In a way he’s on a different strategy isn’t he? (Norris) pitted lap 14, Piastri lap nine, so they want to try to use the freshness of that tyre. Norris they think is a touch quicker as well and can keep the pressure on Ferrari. That’s so important for them now.”

The decision didn't go down well with local fans, with pit reporter Ted Kravitz stating on the broadcast: “I have to tell you Crofty that went down like a cold flat white with the crowd, that position swap. I think they understand it’s for the good of the McLaren team … knowing Lando is probably better placed with younger tyres.

“But we’ll see how much damage Lando has already done to his tyres in Piastri’s dirty air to see whether he can close on (Charles) Leclerc or the Ferrari has too much pace. I doubt there’s a box to tick on (McLaren’s) to-do list today of pleasing the fans."

Oscar Piastri's classy response after brutal decision

But speaking after the race, Piastri was classy as always. "For me, it was completely fair," the 22-year-old Aussie said. "He qualified in front of me yesterday, went a bit longer on the first stop and he was catching me and was quicker at that point of the race.

"At that point, I was keeping with Leclerc and Lando was catching both of us, so I was honestly kind of hoping he'd be past me and go and get Charles. Of course, at home, I would have loved to be able to stay in third. But for me, that was completely fair."

Piastri took plenty of positives from the fourth-place finish, saying: "I think for me it's been a strong weekend. A couple of mistakes when it mattered which is a bit frustrating but today's been a solid result.

"A little bit of an off in the middle of the end of the second stint, and grained the tyres a little bit there as well, so just struggled a bit in that part of the race. I just couldn't really get them back, so some things to learn and go through and see what I could have done a bit better. Apart from that it was a pretty strong day.

"For me, the biggest surprise was honestly Sergio Perez's pace. I was expecting him to come through and he didn't. So, that's probably a bit of optimism for everyone else on the grid."

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Carlos Sainz won the race in a remarkable comeback from recent surgery after Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamiltom failed to finish in dramatic scenes. Two weeks after he was sidelined from the Saudi Arabian GP due to appendicitis, Sainz claimed the third win of his F1 career - and first at Albert Park.

Leclerc finished second to complete a Ferrari 1-2 in Melbourne for the first time since 2004. Australian veteran Daniel Ricciardo was back in 12th for RB.