How Oscar Piastri’s second-place finish at Qatar Grand Prix left his teammate Lando Norris FURIOUS – as Aussie explains why race was the toughest of his career

Oscar Piastri has produced the drive of the day to finish second in an exhausting Qatar Grand Prix – but his teammate Lando Norris wasn’t too thrilled about coming third.

Max Verstappen claimed his 14th grand prix win of the year, beating the McLaren duo – and while Verstappen took the lead at the front of the field it was Piastri who made the most of opening-lap carnage to move into second spot.

The Aussie rookie drove a controlled race, but his teammate Norris was closing in on him in the final laps until McLaren ordered him to hold position and not battle with his teammate.

Norris was closing on Piastri in the final laps, but was told to hold position by his team

‘We’re going to hold position. Bring it home,’ McLaren said to Norris.

Norris responded: ‘Why do you want to do that? We have a big gap. I’m clearly a lot quicker.’

It was the Aussie’s best finish in a GP and his second podium finish of the season.

‘It was so hot. With three stops, it was flat out every lap so it was like 57 qualifying laps … I’m happy, but it was the hardest race of my life,’ Piastri said afterwards.

The Aussie added later: ‘Very very happy, obviously – Turn 1 was nice, that was definitely in the game plan before the race.

‘Really impressive pace… That was the most we could have done.

‘Second and third for the team is an amazing result, it’s been an amazing weekend in general. So, I’m very happy… happy that all the tyres stayed together, that was good obviously, but yeah happy with another trophy too.’

While Piastri was making history on the track, his mother Nicole was celebrating in typically cheeky fashion back in Australia.

It was Piastri’s best finish in a GP and becomes his second podium finish of the season

She took to Twitter on Sunday morning to say she ‘just canceled my 7am Pilates class…’ after her son grabbed the P1 position.

After he won the sprint race she posted a photo of two champagne bottles. 

The result in Qatar means the McLaren team have achieved back-to-back double podiums, after a similar result in Japan.

McLaren are now 11 points behind Aston Martin in the tussle for fourth in the constructors’ championship.