McLaren came to Australia confidently knowing that they had a competitive car, capable of fighting for the Grand Prix's victory.
(Almost) Better than expected
Right from the start of the weekend, on Friday, the MCL39 performed impressively on the Albert Park circuit, showing off all its qualities.
The qualifying result was perhaps even better than expected: 1-2 with a 4 tenths gap to third place (Max Verstappen).
In Sunday's race, however, a mistake cost Piastri the chance to confirm the Papaya one-two. Yet, the Australian - as well as being angry with himself - has every reason to be angry at the team: let's see why.
McLaren, was that necessary?
At only the first race of the 2025 World Championship, when Oscar Piastri was catching up with the then uncontested race leader Lando Norris, a team order was given: not to try and overtake his teammate.
An instruction that confused the home idol to no small degree, mainly due to the lack of a valid motivation. Both drivers start the new season with 0 points each, they have about 15 seconds advantage over the competition: where is the problem in making them fight fairly?
The Woking team then justified themselves by talking about the difficulties of lapping the backmarkers but, ironically, the go-ahead message only reached Piastri after a mistake of his had relegated him to more than 2 seconds behind Norris.
It seems fair to consider this situation the aftermath of last year's ‘Papaya Rules'. The fans hope that, sooner or later, we will also see the two McLarens fighting on the track. Although the first race's management indicates otherwise...
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All the news, photos, weather, session times and times from the Australian GP 2025
