Did McLaren stop Oscar Piastri from trying to overtake Lando Norris in the F1 Australian GP? All about the team orders saga from the first race

McLaren enforced team orders on their drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri during the first race of the season this weekend and potentially stopped the latter from overtaking his teammate. The Woking-based outfit made a commanding start to their title defense at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix as they won the race courtesy of Lando Norris on Sunday, March 16.

The reigning world champions had locked out the front row of the grid after qualifying P1 and P2 with Norris leading his teammate. After briefly losing the lockout in the opening phase of the race, the Aussie reclaimed his P2 slot from Max Verstappen.

After passing the Red Bull driver, Oscar Piastri closed up the gap to his teammate Lando Norris to under a second and was the faster driver in the middle phase of the race. However, The Woking-based outfit decided to implement "Papaya Rules" and told the two-time F1 race winner to hold the position.

Although the Aussie was initially hesitant but decided to back off and created a larger gap to Norris. The team orders call did not sit well with many F1 fans and experts alike given it robbed them of a battle for the P1 spot.

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All about the team orders saga from McLaren in Australia

McLaren had looked the fastest car throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend which was evident after they locked out the front row of the grid and had a substantial gap to Max Verstappen in P3 before the late rain shower.

With both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri racing at a similar pace and producing similar timings in the race, the British team focused on consolidating the result and implemented team orders on the Aussie.

The world champions claimed that they wanted both drivers to avoid racing each other while passing the backmarkers to prevent unnecessary situations. However, McLaren later told Piastri that he was free to race his teammate after he created a three-second gap with the latter.

Speaking to the media after the race, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri stated that he would have a discussion with the team about the team orders call. He said (via PlanetF1):

“We were holding position before that. I think by the time we were free to race, it kind of killed my front left a little bit getting to the back of Lando. I think that was probably a pretty minor moment in the race. So I’ll speak to the team and try and understand better what the thing was. But I think it’s always clear that those kind of calls can come in either direction.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown claimed that he did not think the team orders call had any impact on Piastri's chances of overtaking Norris. Piastri ultimately finished the race in P9 after making a mistake in the tricky conditions and spinning on the grass.

However, his two points at the end of the race were crucial in keeping McLaren at the top of the Constructors Championship given that they are level on points with Mercedes.