McLaren CEO Zak Brown has explained why 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Piastri was instructed to “hold position” when closing in on 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lando Norris at the Australian Grand Prix.

After getting by 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen on Lap 17, Piastri reeled Norris in🎉 with a series of fastest lap🤪s.

On lap 29, he moved into DRS range of his teammate but was soon told by McLaren to 𒊎“hold position.”

Piastri’s charge for the w🐼in faded as he dropped a couple of seconds behind Norris, who had run wide at Turn 6.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Brown explained that they wanted both drivers to clear the traffic - they were lapping Haas’ Ollie Bearman at the time - bef🌼ore letting them battle on track.

“I don’t think that had anything to do with it,” Brown said. “We, Andrea and I on the pit wall, actually just kind of released him to go racing, and we just wanted to make sure we cle🦋ared the traffic.

“So that was a hold for a moment, and then it looked like he dropped a wheel and then fell back a bit of a gap. But I just🌟 think they were pushing really hard in very tricky conditions.”

Pias꧟tri could only come away from the race with a P9 finish.

As rain fell during the latter half of the race, both McLaren drivers ran off the tr💖ack in the final sector.

While Norris could return to the track, Piastri slid off into the grass and was beachꦑed for a prolonged period.

The Safety Car for Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto’s cars allowed Piastri to get back in the fight, overtaking 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton to finish ninth.

“I feel terrible for Oscar. He drove such a brilliant race a✃nd they both came up on that rain at the same𒅌 time,” Brown added.

“Lando was able to ✃collect it up. For Oscar, a little bit more tricky, and he drove great to get back to P9 but awesoꦓme team effort in an exciting race.”

Brown cautious about McLaren’s pace

It was a great day for McLaren, who won the season opener for the first time since 20ꦐ12.

The various Safety Cars masked McLaren’s true advantage oไver the rest of the ꦫfield.

On Lap 30, Norris and Piastri were over 16 seconds ahead of Verstappen in third, who struggled for pace following hi🧸s mistake.

Howﷺever, Brown is remaining cautious about th🐻e rest of the season.

“It looked good, but, as we know, that’s one track, one race. Let’s see what hapᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚpens in China,” he explained.

“But definitely, we’re starting the season very strong. But we saw, last year, Max won the first six, seven races, whatever it was, and then had a bit of a drought. So I think we just got to keep doing�𒀰� what we’re doing.”