The Australian caught the eye of officials before the Qatar Grand Prix had even started.

In the moments pre-race, Piastri completed a series of reconnaissance laps, touring the Losail circuit before diving into the pit lane. On one occasion, he passed two cars on the way in.

Investigated post-race, Piastri was found to have breached the International Sporting Code, for which he was issued a warning.

“The driver explained the two cars in front of him were travelling very slowly and he wished to overtake them,” the stewards decision noted.

“The team provided telemetry evidence that Car 81 was not travelling at excessive speed and that the driver was in control at all times.

“Although the manoeuvre appeared erratic on the video, we did not determine that it was dangerous.

“However such erratic manoeuvres should be avoided, hence the penalty of a formal warning is applied.”

Piastri raced his way to third, his cause hindered by the emergence of a mid-race Safety Car.

McLaren had stopped the Australian just prior to its deployment, meaning he paid full price for his switch to the hard compound tyres.

At the time, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had both experienced front-right failures, with McLaren opting for a safety first approach.

Charles Leclerc meanwhile remained out before pitting under the Safety Car, the cheaper stop enough to see him leapfrog Piastri into third on the road.

However, a mistake from Lando Norris in the other McLaren saw him pick up a 10-second stop-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags, dropping him to the back of the pack and promoting Piastri back onto the podium.

“That’s how racing goes sometimes, unfortunately,” Piastri said of his Safety Car misfortune.

“Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t.

“I feel like we’ve had that happen quite a few times this year, but we’ve had our fair share of luck as well.

“I think the pace was decent, just not quite strong enough in the right places on the track, which made trying to get close pretty tough.

“Once I had some clean air, the pace was strong.

“Fighting for the win, given where I started and how the first part of the race panned out was always going to be a challenge, but I’m pretty happy to end up on the podium.”

While Piastri was third, Norris could only recover to 10th (with bonus point for fastest lap), the pair combining for 19 points for McLaren.

Ferrari meanwhile banked 26 courtesy of Leclerc in third and Carlos Sainz in sixth.

It leaves the McLaren 21 points clear of the Scuderia in the constructors’ championship heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend.