Aussie F1 star Oscar Piastri received a stern radio message from his McLaren team at the Miami Grand Prix, while enduring one of his most frustrating days on the track.
Piastri started strong and looked like he might record a top-three finish early in Sunday’s race, before a pit stop saw him drop back to fourth.
The young gun was soon battling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz with the pair making contact on Turn 17, sending Piastri to the pits for a replacement wing.
Piastri soon found himself back in 16th position battling fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo when he copped a blunt message from his team via the radio.
Oscar Piastri received a blunt radio message from his McLaren team at the Miami Grand Prix
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McLaren teammate Lando Norris, 24, bagged his first Grand Prix win in Miami
With the Aussie’s teammate Lando Norris leading the race, McLaren bosses made it clear he should drive carefully to avoid anymore safety cars on the track.
‘Oscar, reminder, Lando is leading the race,’ Piastri’s engineer said over the team’s radio.
‘We do not want to cause a safety car here.’
Piastri managed to battle past Ricciardo and eventually finished in 13th position, while his teammate grabbed his debut win in F1.
Piastri was experiencing mixed emotions when speaking to press after the race.
‘I think we did a lot of things right in the first half of the race,’ Piastri said.
‘A bit unfortunate with the Safety Car timing obviously, and then [it] just kind of unravelled from there. Obviously a really good day for the team, they deserved to have both cars up there.
‘But yeah, a really encouraging day in terms of the pace and obviously to get a win on pace. [There was] a little bit of good fortune involved but Lando had the pace after, which I think is incredibly encouraging.
The Aussie young gun suffered a damaged wing while battling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz
‘So overall mixed emotions, but very, very happy for the team.’
The Aussie was also without the full upgrade package that Norris had on his McLaren, which might have made a slight difference.
‘For Lando, to win the race on pace and to pull away from Max [Verstappen] after the Safety Car, I think that’s a very, very encouraging sign,’ he said.
‘So very happy for him and for the whole team. I think we deserve it.
‘Our trajectory in the last 12 months has been towards this moment.
‘Even with the car that I had, I think we were very strong as well.’
CEO of McLaren Zak Brown also said after the race that Piastri deserved better.
‘Oscar drove brilliantly,’ Brown said on Sky Sports.
‘I feel bad he didn’t get the results he deserved. He’ll get the upgrades. The full set of upgrades in Imola.’
