Piastri in F1 storm

Teammate not happy

IT’S the feud at the foot of the field that will get tongues wagging up and down the Formula One paddock.

And it’s already caught the eye of a former world champ.

Australian rookie Oscar Piastri drew an early line in the sand with Lando Norris by besting his teammate late in an otherwise miserable race for McLaren in Saudi Arabia.

The madness continued for McLaren with both cars relegated to the foot of the field inside just two laps, only a fortnight after a similar problem occurred in Bahrain.

This time it was damage to his front wing that forced Piastri to pit at the end of the opening lap, ruining his chance at a maiden points finish and taking the shine off a stunning qualifying performance a day earlier.

Norris entered the pits a lap later, also for a front wing repair, and the McLarens were once again consigned to alsorans on the streets of Jeddah.

“It ruined everything really,” Norris said after the race.

“I think it was (debris from) Oscar’s front wing which broke my front wing, so both of our races were ruined quite quickly.”

As the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen fought for the top step of the podium, a battle between teammates was also waged at the foot of the field.

Seeing the race out on the same set of hard tyres on which he began, Piastri incredibly passed Norris – who was pitted for mediums under the safety car – with five laps to go.

The papayas played cat and mouse in the dying stages, before the pit wall radioed to both drivers telling them to behave.

The young Aussie then pulled away from his teammate, before jumping the ailing Williams of fellow rookie Logan Sargeant to cross the line in 15th.

“I think after the first lap it was always going to be tough so the last couple of laps were a bit of entertainment which was nice,” Piastri said.

“I’m glad we finished the race first and foremost because on lap one I didn’t think that was going to happen.”

But Norris refused to give his rookie teammate credit for the late overtake, declaring he had essentially given up due to the state of the race.

“I could have quite easily probably kept the position at the end and got past the Williams (of Sargeant) but yeah, I just let him go in the end,” Norris said. “It would be different if I was fighting for points, but 16th and 17th – it doesn’t matter.”

Former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg praised Piastri’s performance under trying circumstances, and took umbrage with Norris’s comments.

“I’ve been very impressed this weekend with Oscar,” Rosberg said on Sky Sports.

“It’s the ultimate challenge for a rookie to come in and be up against Lando especially when the car is so difficult and bad to drive, so I think (it was) a really solid weekend.”