Lando Norris on team orders in Melbourne: “Risking was stupid, Piastri will have more chances”. Lando Norris justified McLaren’s decision to freeze positions in the Australian GP.

McLaren team orders, Lando Norris defends the team
During Lando Norris’s first victory of the 2025 Formula 1 season, controversy arose over McLaren’s race management at the Melbourne GP. When Oscar Piastri was right behind his teammate, the papaya team ordered the positions to be frozen, only giving him the green light after the Australian made a mistake that dropped him several seconds behind the vice-world champion.

Team orders are naturally unpopular among fans, who always want to see on-track battles, and even among the drivers themselves—even those who benefit from them, as such decisions can put a stain on their results. However, in this case, Lando Norris defended the team’s race management.

Lando Norris’s words
“That decision only lasted for two or three laps; we were overtaking lapped cars. The conditions were risky, and we would have looked like complete idiots if we had both gone off track—or worse, out of the race—when we had a great result in our hands,” said Lando Norris. “After that waiting period, we were free to race again.” – the British driver pointed out.

“From the team’s perspective, it wasn’t about the drivers but about McLaren: we were first and second, and we couldn’t do anything stupid by forcing the situation behind the lapped cars,” he continued. “There are still plenty of opportunities for Oscar to race against me. If you go off-line in that part of the track, you end up in the wall. At that stage of the race, I was still managing my tires to make them last until the end, while Oscar was pushing a bit more to overtake me. But from my side, everything was under control.” – the McLaren driver concluded.