2023 Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri draws a line in the sand with McLaren teammate Lando Norris

Australian rookie Oscar Piastri drew an early line under Lando Norris by beating his teammate late in an otherwise miserable race for McLaren in Saudi Arabia.

The madness continued for McLaren as both cars were relegated to the back of the field within just two laps, just a fortnight after a similar problem arose in Bahrain.

This time it was damage to his front wing that forced Piastri to pit at the end of lap one, ruining his chance of a first points finish and spoiling a stunning qualifying performance the day before.

Norris joined him in the pits a lap later, also for a front wing repair, and the McLarens were again taken to Also-Rans on the streets of Jeddah.

While the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen fought for the top step of the podium, there was also a duel between the teammates at the end of the field.

Piastri faced the race on the same set of hard tires he started on and incredibly overtook his experienced teammate with four laps to go.

The Papayas played cat and mouse in the dying phase before the pit wall radioed both drivers to behave.

“Lando was told not to make it too difficult,” was the appeal to Piastri.

The young Australian then pulled away from his team-mate before leapfrogging the battered Williams of fellow rookie Logan Sargeant to cross the finish line in 15th.

It was a small win in an otherwise miserable start to Piastri’s F1 career, through no fault of his own.

As F1 legend Martin Brundle put it, McLaren has both a slow and unreliable car this year and that’s not good news for the over-talented Australian rookie.

He and the team will need to regroup ahead of Piastri’s first home Grand Prix in Melbourne next weekend.

Originally posted as F1 2023 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri draws a line in the sand with McLaren teammate Lando Norris