On the face of it, the Australian Grand Prix proved to be a major success for McLaren, which finished just behind a brace of Ferraris on Sunday with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in third and fourth respectively.
However both drivers felt that they could have gone at least one place better than that if not for some strategy decisions made by the team at crucial points of the race, which was won by Carlos Sainz.
Team principal Andrea Stella's decision to invoke team orders to put Norris ahead of home favourite Piastri on lap 29 went down badly with the Aussie fans in the grandstands.
But Norris was just as convinced that he would have been able to challenge Charles Leclerc for second place by the chequered flag if he had been allowed to pit earlier, having stayed out five laps longer than Leclerc and Piastri.
When Norris did finally make his stop, he rejoined behind both of them which affected his pace over the next dozen laps until the team decided that his newer tyres meant he should be allowed past Piastri, by which time it was too late.
"I didn't expect for us to be competing against the Ferraris today, and I think our pace was not as good as Carlos," he conceded. "But it was probably better than Charles.
“We missed out on Charles. I think our pace was a little bit better but he undercut us in the first stint. That was a strategic thing, so maybe a little bit of hope for second place," he said.
"When you look at it, and you’re realistic with one another, I think as a team, - as much as we’ll be happy with P3 - you also think, ‘Was P2 possible?’ And I think it was today. Our pace was strong enough.
"Being honest, we maybe missed out a little bit on an opportunity to be P2. But for us to say that is a good sign, and I think it's a good positive for the whole team, a good boost.
“It was a very good day for us,” Norris continued. “I'm very happy and proud of the team as P3 and P4 are a lot of points in the championship, so that's the first thing.
“This circuit suits us a little bit more, we’ve been able to push and unlock a little bit of speed,” he commented. “But it's still another step to Ferrari and to Red Bull.
"Ferrari and Carlos did a very good job, so hats off to them. They've been fast all weekend," he acknowledged. he said. "They’re one or two steps ahead of us still, so we need to catch up.
“But it's clear that we're getting closer and a day like today proves exactly that," he said. "[I] probably wasn't expecting to be on the podium so I'm very happy.”
“So a big thanks to all and McLaren. We're getting closer to our target. It's nice to be back on the podium again and hopefully we can have many more.”
Sky Sports F1 analyst Karun Chandhok said on the live race broadcast that he felt McLaren "made a bit of a mistake here", adding: “They could’ve won on both counts.
“In hindsight, if you say they pitted Lando on lap 10 instead of Oscar then Oscar was still four seconds ahead of George [Russell] and could’ve pitted on lap 11 and stayed ahead," he explained.
"The lap we were going to undercut, [Charles] boxed," said Norris. "So you have to go on and do kind of a different strategy. We were close in the second stint, and if I'd boxed I think I would have undercut.
"I missed that opportunity. So you always think what if we did it one lap earlier, but it's tough to make all those decisions at the time. It can easily go wrong at the same time; there are always some consequences of doing so."
Stella agreed it might have been possible, while defending his strategy calls. "It was very early with a high degree of uncertainty as to the behaviour of the hard tyres. In fact, we saw some quick cars that didn’t look quick at all.
“So we actually went for this strategy with trying to pass Leclerc with Oscar, but Leclerc decided it was a good idea as well and [pitted] at the same time.”
Meanwhile fourth place for Piastri was the best result to date that an Australian has managed at a home Grand Prix. And unlike the fans, the 22-year-old from Melbourne had no complaints about team orders.
“For me it was completely fair,” Piastri told the media in the paddock after the race. “Lando qualified in front of me yesterday, he went a bit longer on the first stop, and he was catching me and quicker at that point of the race.
"I was keeping up with Leclerc, Lando was catching both of us, so I was honestly kind of hoping he’d get past me and go and get Charles,. So yeah, that was completely fair.
“Of course, at home, I would have loved to be able to stay in third," he admitted. “I would have loved to have been one sport higher.
“But I think for the team, it’s been an amazing weekend. Very happy with the gap to Ferrari," he said. “I didn’t expect to have this kind of pace around here, so it’s been a positive start - and a clean start to the year as well.
"Honestly, pretty happy with with this weekend," he concluded. “I feel like I’ve made a step forward in some areas, [but there is] still some some work to go.
"A few little things that I could've done a bit better in that race. I think I just struggled a little bit in that middle stint on the hard.," he said. "A little bit of an off in the middle of the end of the second stint.
"A bit frustrating, but today's been a solid result," he said. "For me, the biggest surprise was honestly 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!"
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