McLaren drew criticism from some last year for declining to impose team orders on their drivers when doing so could have helped Lando Norris in the championship.
So their decision to impose team orders during the first race of 2025 was a clear departure from what they’ve done before. It came in the form of a ‘hold position’ order given to both drivers at the mid-point of the race.McLaren told both drivers to hold their positions when Oscar Piastri caught Norris while he was leading just after half-distance. They gave similar messages to both drivers on lap 29.
The pair were closing on Oliver Bearman, the first driver they would put a lap down, and his team mate Esteban Ocon. As the MCL39s closed on the Haas pair McLaren told their drivers the order to hold position was in place while they “transition to the dry” and “clear the backmarkers”.
Once they lapped the two Haas cars Piastri asked if the order was to be lifted, but was told it remained in force. The next car they had to lap was Liam Lawson’s Red Bull, which was around 10 seconds ahead on lap 30.
On the next lap, Piastri made a mistake at turn six. The next time by McLaren told him the ‘hold position’ order had been lifted. He went off again at turn six on that lap, which dropped him well out of DRS range of his team mate.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown insisted the pair remained free to race. However he admitted feeling some relief when Piastri ran wide and dropped back from Norris.
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“That was just a ‘hold’ while we were coming up on the lapped traffic just to make sure we can both get through that,” he told Channel 4. “They were free to race.
Soon afterwards, Piastri’s pursuit of Norris was interrupted when Fernando Alonso crashed, triggering a Safety Car period. His race went awry soon after the restart, when more rain fell and he spun off while chasing Norris.
Piastri’s dissatisfaction with the order at the time was easy to understand, particularly given that it wasn’t lifted as soon as they lapped the Haas drivers. Exactly how McLaren believe they fulfilled the “transition to dry” element of the order wasn’t clear.
Would they have invoked the ‘hold position’ order again had Piastri got back within DRS range of Norris? Did they intend to keep turning it on and off like a light switch as they caught and passed backmarkers?
Later races may reveal more about how McLaren choose to implement this novel spin on team orders. And whether they can pull off the tricky balancing act involved when an F1 team has two competitive drivers and a car quick enough to win the world championship.
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Norris and Piastri’s radio messages
The two drivers were given similar ‘hold position’ messages on lap 29.
| Lap: 28/58 NOR: 1’29.097, PIA: 1’28.629 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stallard | Cars ahead are Bearman and Ocon, they will get blue flags. Norris and Piastri lap Bearman |
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| Lap: 29/58 NOR: 1’28.357, PIA: 1’28.188 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Ocon should have the flags. We also need, minor, white default two two again, white default two two again. Don’t worry about Oscar for now, we’re going to clear [pauses] we’re going to clear backmarkers and make the transition. Norris and Piastri lap Ocon |
Stallard | Oscar we should hold position please, hold position. Transition to the dry, clear the backmarkers. Next one is Ocon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Piastri | Okay. I’m faster, but okay. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 30/58 NOR: 1’28.032, PIA: 1’28.331 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Lando, rain update. There’s no rain until lap 43 and it possibly might go up after then. How are the tyres? | Piastri | Are we still holding now that we’ve cleared the traffic? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norris | Yeah, they’re broken. They’re more ‘slicktermediates’ now. I think getting towards that phase, anyway. | Stallard | Yes, hold for now. Let us know your pace. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Piastri | Yeah. Do I [unclear] tell you my pace? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stallard | Oscar latest is more rain building up, more rain building up. I’ll give you a time in a second. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 31/58 NOR: 1’27.695, PIA: 1’27.916 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stallard | Currently no rain expected ’til lap 45, but could be heavier rain after that. How’s the track? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Piastri | It’s drying, but we’re going to need another inter if it rains. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stallard | Verstappen last lap 20 [unclear] to pick up his pace to match you. Piastri runs wide at turn six |
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McLaren told Norris the ‘hold position’ order had been lifted two laps after Piastri was notified. It appears other discussions took priority, likely because the threat from Piastri had visibly diminished.
| Lap: 32/58 NOR: 1’27.800, PIA: 1’29.379 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Weather update when ready and I’ve got a race update for you as well. | Piastri | On pit straight Okay Oscar we’re free to race now, free to race, you know the rules. Weather update, lap 43 could be more rain, heavier rain possible No rain until lap 43. Piastri runs wide at turn six again |
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| Lap: 33/58 NOR: 1’27.495, PIA: 1’28.226 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norris | Yes, the tyres, I think are pretty much worn to slicks and if I hit a wet patch I’m fucked. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Okay. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norris | Any rain and I’m fucked, 100%. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Understood. We see the tramlines forming. No rain expected until lap 45, then possible rain, but we’re not sure. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norris | I don’t think it’s that far away from a slick right now to be honest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Okay understood, keep us updated. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norris | Yeah, I think you definitely get away with a slick. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 34/58 NOR: 2’02.273, PIA: 2’07.025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Okay, gap to Oscar’s 3.4, you are now, both of you are free to race each other, you’re free to race each other. Alonso crashes and the Safety Car is deployed |
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Leo B
16th March 2025, 19:08
The ugly side of the team that fields a seemingly ideal mix of talents.
There was no need whatever for papa to intervene because “they were coming up to back markers”. They are not novices. It is the ugly side: Stella keeping Piastri at bay for no legit reason.
SteveM
16th March 2025, 19:38
Exactly.
MichaelN
16th March 2025, 21:44
I’m all for having them go at it as a viewer, but we’ve often seen that the trailing driver is making more of a fuzz about his supposed predicament than is actually warranted. If these guys are genuinely faster, you’d expect them to at least put themselves in a position to really pressure the leading car, make a feint, or whatever. Not sit back at the edge of DRS range and complain.
And from McLaren’s perspective, what is there to gain by having their drivers go at it? Norris showed himself to be their better bet for a championship campaign last year, and indeed he did again today. If Piastri thinks he can be champion, he needs to either out-qualify Norris, or just overtake him in the race. The latter will cause some discussions, but so be it.
BasCB (@bascb)
17th March 2025, 12:16
I am no fan of team orders, but I agree that it made sense to tell them to just focus on keeping it on track, clear backmarkers and see how things develop for a while (incl. info on the possible rainshower that was 10 laps in the future) – Alonso crashed while just doing his laps, something that can happen more easily when they are pushing each other to the limit, especially with the inters going off, they are more prone to such things.
reggieboeing
16th March 2025, 19:17
Not a good situation, at all, that McLaren are using team orders a mere half way through the 1st race.
In fact, it’s a total and complete JOKE !!!
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
16th March 2025, 19:29
Oscar, all you have to do is out qualify Lando
SteveM
16th March 2025, 19:37
Exactly.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
16th March 2025, 19:46
This, on a Saturday Lando seems to be able to squeeze a little more out of the car. We might think of them both as young drivers, but for Oscars 47 starts to 129 for Lando, neither are rookies. Oscar has a long contract now and should be getting confident, if he can find that extra 1% there’s going to be some tough decisions on the McLaren pitwall.
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
17th March 2025, 0:44
Or he can qualify right behind Lando and mug him going into the first corner.. much like Max’s efforts when he started behind Lando last year.
Roger Craig
17th March 2025, 9:57
And then McLaren favours Lando with strategy when he does that
SteveM
16th March 2025, 19:37
Oscar couldn’t get near Lando even when he had DRS. What makes anyone think for the 2 or 3 laps this happened would be any different.
Roger Craig
17th March 2025, 9:59
Yeah, 0.2sec’s behind before being told to not overtake is miles off
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
16th March 2025, 19:52
I’ve never had issues with team orders or teams controlling races like this because it’s all just always been a part of the sport and always will be because the teams will always be looking out for it’s best interests rather than those of the individual drivers.
And end of the day I don’t think it made any difference to the results because when the rain came and both drivers went off it was ultimately Lando that dealt with the mistake in a calmer way and was able to recover while Piastri in his impatience to get back on track compounded the mistake by making another.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
16th March 2025, 20:15
Oscar bottled his race because he was impatient.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
17th March 2025, 2:10
Hardly. Both cars went off on the same corner. Piastri with slightly lower downforce ended up going wider and spent longer on the grass resulting in less opportunity to recover once back on the tarmac and he slid across the track.
Doggy
17th March 2025, 19:09
What race did you watch? Because its certainly not the one most watched.
Kribana (@krichelle)
16th March 2025, 20:51
I don’t blame Mclaren for this order given that it is the first race of the season. If Mclaren continue to have this margin over the rest of the field, I expect them to reduce the mangement as the season goes deeper. There will still be more management to do if this would become just like Hamilton and Rosberg at Mercedes.
David BR (@david-br)
16th March 2025, 23:19
In some ways it was a surprisingly intelligent team order. I mean, they’re usually towards the end of a race, I can’t remember one being given mid-race while a combination of track conditions and back markers made aggressive racing too risky between team mates (in the team’s view). I thought it was a smart call.
Ryan
17th March 2025, 11:51
I don’t see it as an issue at all given the circumstances. They were running 1-2 in treacherous conditions, don’t think it was worth risking a huge points haul given the weather. If it was a dry race then different story, but we saw how slippery it was.
BasCB (@bascb)
17th March 2025, 12:18
Yeah, as Max mentioned, even if he was faster than Norris, with only one dry line, you really need a big mistake from the car ahead to even have a chance of passing in these circumstances, why risk that in a race like this.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th March 2025, 5:09
It’s a sort of spa 1998 team order, with the difference that was a midfield team, who would never get a chance for a 1-2 again, while this is now a top team, but even so the conditions are more of a reason to be careful.
Doggy
17th March 2025, 12:05
Again, another team that learns that team order will benefit them more in the long run. They just need to own it and stop making stupid things up like the papaya rules.
Had redbull done this, and everyone would be losing their minds here.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th March 2025, 5:11
Red bull doing this won’t happen cause the second driver is consistently miles away from verstappen: from vs back of the grid.
The best team order they can give is to get out of the way when they’re lapped!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th March 2025, 5:11
front vs back of the grid*
JJ (@jjfrazz)
17th March 2025, 13:59
Race after race I wish they would race their cars and ban radio and telemetry! What is the driver for?
Jungle
18th March 2025, 9:57
A little impatient at his home GP. Outrageous!
MaxV
18th March 2025, 20:16
If Max would be in Oscar position he would pass and leave lando in dust, never even think twice…