Oscar Piastri received a brutal warning from his team as he attempted to chase down fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo
- Piastri had mixed fortunes at the Miami Grand Prix
- His teammate Lando Norris took his first victory
- McLaren warned Australian to drive carefully in closing stages
Australian F1 star Oscar Piastri received a stern radio message from his McLaren team at the Miami Grand Prix as he endured one of his most frustrating days on track.
Piastri started strong and looked like he might finish in the top three early in Sunday’s race, before a pit stop dropped him back to fourth.
The youngster was soon battling with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with the two men making contact at turn 17, sending Piastri to the pits for a replacement wing.
Piastri quickly found himself in 16th position against fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo when he received a blunt message from his team via radio.
Oscar Piastri received a brutal radio message from his McLaren team during the Miami Grand Prix
McLaren teammate Lando Norris, 24, takes his first Grand Prix victory in Miami
With the Australian’s teammate Lando Norris leading the race, McLaren bosses made it clear he had to drive carefully to avoid any safety cars on the track.
“Oscar, remember, Lando is leading the race,” Piastri’s engineer said on the team radio.
“We don’t want to cause a safety car here.”
Piastri managed to overtake Ricciardo and eventually finished in 13th position, while his teammate took his first F1 victory.
Piastri had mixed emotions as he spoke to the press after the race.
“I think we did a lot of things well in the first half of the race,” Piastri said.
“It’s a little unfortunate with the timing of the safety car obviously, and then it kind of fell apart from there.” It’s obviously a very good day for the team, they deserved to have both cars up there.
“But yeah, it’s a really encouraging day in terms of pace and obviously winning on pace. (There was) a bit of luck but Lando had the pace afterwards, which I think is incredibly encouraging.
Young Australian suffered damaged wing while battling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz
“So overall mixed emotions, but very, very happy for the team.”
The Australian also didn’t have the full upgrade package that Norris had on his McLaren, which could have made a slight difference.
“For Lando to win the race with his pace and get away from Max (Verstappen) after the safety car, I think it’s a very, very encouraging sign,” he said.
“I’m very happy for him and for the whole team. I think we deserve it.
“Our trajectory over the last 12 months has been moving towards this moment.
“Even with the car I had, I think we were also very strong.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown also said after the race that Piastri deserved better.
“Oscar drove brilliantly,” Brown said on Sky Sports.
“I feel bad that he didn’t get the results he deserved. He will get the improvements. The complete set of improvements in Imola.
