Though the call didn't go down well with the partisan crowd, Oscar Piastri says the order to swap positions with teammate Lando Norris was the right thing to do.

While shadowing Charles Leclerc, Piastri was called on to swap positions with Norris who was on fresher rubber. The Australian duly obliged, much to the anger of the crowd who booed the decision.

"For me, it was completely fair," said Piastri at race end. "He qualified in front of me yesterday, went a bit longer on the first stop and he was catching me and was quicker at that point of the race.

"At that point, I was keeping with Leclerc and Lando was catching both of us, so I was honestly kind of hoping he'd be past me and go and get Charles," he added. "Of course, at home, I would have loved to be able to stay in third. But for me, that was completely fair."

As it happened, Norris was unable to catch the Ferrari but still claimed a podium position, while Piastri fell back over 30s behind, not helped by a lock-up mid-race which required an earlier stop than planned.

Indeed, much like his teammate, Piastri is only to willing to give himself a hard time for his mistakes.

"I think for me it's been a strong weekend," he said. "A couple of mistakes when it mattered is a bit frustrating but today's been a solid result. A little bit of an off in the middle of the end of the second stint, and grained the tyres a little bit there as well, so just struggled a bit in that part of the race.

"I couldn't really get them back, so some things to learn and go through and see what I could have done a bit better. Apart from that it was a pretty strong day.

"Honestly, for me, the biggest surprise was Sergio Perez's pace. I was expecting him to come through and he didn't. So, that's probably a bit of optimism for everyone else on the grid."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 27/03/2024 1:43

"Doesn't anyone think that it's basically wrong to ask, 'can I please pass my team mate'? Conciliatory approaches are fine, if it is all part of a master plan but when one is establishing an F1 identity defensive tactics are an absoloute must in ones armoury."

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2. Posted by ffracer, 26/03/2024 8:36

"The more I see of Oscar Piastri, the more me likey lol. Incredible driver, great team player, well mature for his age : I can totally understand why Zak Brown fought so hard for him. LeClerc and Ocon would have already gone ballistic and spouted conspiracy theories by now... Oscar, you and Mark Webber (his agent) get it. Keep being the team player and positively influencing your team as you continue on your F35 fighter jet trajectory of honing your skill, you will be the great driver with an army backing you to infamy."

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Strategic call "completely fair" insists Piastri

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