McLaren celebrates its first podium of the year. Norris believes he should have fought with Ferrari – F1sport.cz

Lando Norris took McLaren’s first podium of the Formula 1 season this season when he finished third behind Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz won the race in Melbourne ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris got in front of home Oscar Piastri on team instructions and set off on a pursuit drive behind the leading pair following Leclerc overtook him during the first pit stops.

But the Brit was unable to get close to Leclerc and had to settle for third place.

“It was a very good day for us. I’m very proud of the team, third and fourth place means a lot of championship points for us,” said Norris.

“We weren’t enough for Charles, I think our speed was a bit better. He got ahead of us in the first stint with an earlier stop, so maybe I was hoping for second place a bit.

“I think our speed was enough today. But Ferrari and Carlos did a very good job today, hats off. They were fast all weekend. I felt that I might take care of the tires very well today. I didn’t expect to be on the podium today, I’m very happy.”

Piastri under the podium

Australian Oscar Piastri finished in fourth place in front of his home fans. He thus repeated his best result of the year from the previous race in Saudi Arabia.

Piastri understands the team’s decision to get Norris ahead of him.

“For me it was completely fair. He qualified ahead of me yesterday, he stayed a bit longer at the first pit stop and caught me because he was faster at that stage of the race. At that point I was holding on to Leclerc and Lando was passing us both, so I was honestly hoping he would overtake me and go following Charles,” said Piastri.

“Of course, I would have liked to stay third at home, but it was quite fair for me. I think it was a good weekend. I made a few mistakes when it mattered, which is a bit frustrating, but it was a decent result today.”