Norris: A good job by the team [managing drivers]

Norris and Piastri were third and second behind Max Verstappen during the Safety Car period that came out to clear Kimi Antonelli's broken-down Mercedes.

McLaren simply did nothing and let their drivers race, which cost the Norris a few laps as he battled his teammate, and although Max Verstappen was going to be tough to catch as he drove into the distance, McLaren should've ordered Piastri—who was on worn-out tyres—to move out of the way at the first chance after the Safety Car left the track.

That did not happen, and Norris had to muscle his way past Piastri, but the former wasn't complaining; he commented: "I was on better tyres, but I didn't expect anything.

"It was still a tough fight. It was close into turn one. It's the way it should be, of course. I lose time through that, and then he loses time, but it's what we have to do in order to battle for a championship.

"If you try and make someone happy, the other one's going to be unhappy, so it's the way it is. I think we handled it well, and it was a good job by the team," Norris concluded.

Later in McLaren's race report, Norris admitted his team did not have the pace to challenge Verstappen but was happy to limit the damage.

"A good race—I'm really pleased with the P2 finish," he said. "It wasn't easy to overtake, but we did what we could. Max was quick, of course. We would have loved to be there fighting him, but they had a bit more pace than we did.

"Oscar and I had a fun battle, but we raced each other well and maximized what we could. For us as a team, second and third is great. We go again next week," Norris concluded.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella was quizzed as to whether the team should have employed team orders after the Safety Car; he responded: "It was definitely a thought.

"We want to have Oscar having his own chances at the restart. So we assumed the principle if Lando was able to pass Max he should have been able to pass Oscar pretty easily considering he was on fairly old tyres.

"In reality, if the pace delta was enough things would have taken care of themselves. We are happy with how things unfolded.

"Both drivers are happy think that was fair and that’s the way we go racing," Stella concluded.

McLaren still lead the 2025 Formula 1 constructors' championship by 132 points from Mercedes who are second. Red Bull Racing are 34 points further behind in third.