Oscar Piastri has downplayed the controversy over McLaren’s team orders at the Italian Grand Prix, saying it was “fair” for him to cede position to teammate Lando Norris in the closing stages of the race.
However, both Piastri and team principal Andrea Stella said on Sunday that the situation will be discussed and reviewed ahead of the next round of the championship in Azerbaijan.
Piastri was running in third place behind Norris and Max Verstappen when McLaren made a strategic decision to delay the pit stops of both its cars in the hope of gaining an advantage from a late safety car period.
In order to protect Piastri’s podium finish from Charles Leclerc in fourth place, the Australian was called into the pits before Norris — a decision that broke McLaren’s convention of giving the preferable strategy to the lead car.
Norris was reassured over team radio that pitting second would not drop him behind Piastri, but when a slow front-left tyre change delayed his pit stop he emerged behind his teammate and title rival.
Piastri was then told to slow and let Norris retake second place before the two drivers were allowed to race to the finish.
The championship leader complied with the order, but radioed the team to say: “We said a slow pit stop was part of racing, I don’t really get what changed here — but if you want me to do it, I’ll do it.”
Norris finished the race ahead of Piastri, taking three points out of his teammate’s championship lead, which now stands at 31 points with eight races remaining.
“It’s something that we’ll discuss — we have discussed it before,” Piastri said. “I think today was a fair request.
“Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race and lost that spot through no fault of his own.
“I said what I had to say on the radio. And once I got the second request, then I’m not going to go against the team, I think there’s a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and ultimately that’s a very important thing going forward.”
The situation had similarities with last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where the sequencing of the pit stops between the two drivers saw Norris shuffled ahead of Piastri before being asked to give the position back.
In Monza, Stella said that Piastri being allowed to pit before Norris was a big factor in the decision to swap the cars once Norris had dropped behind his teammate.
“I think the pitstop situation is not only a matter of fairness, it’s a matter of consistency with our principles,” Stella said.
“However the championship goes, what’s important is the championship runs within the principles and the racing fairness we have at McLaren. And that we have created with our drivers.
“The situation whereby we swap our drivers is not only related to the pitstop, it’s also related to the fact that we wanted to sequence the two cars and stop Oscar first and then Lando.
“This should not have led to a swap of position. It was just done because we were covering Leclerc, and at the same time we were waiting until the last possible moment to see if there was a red flag or a safety car.
“So we pursued the team interest to capitalise as much as possible, and in the team interests we had to go first with Oscar and then with Lando. But the clear intent was this is not going to deliver a swap of positions.
“So the fact that we went first with Oscar, compounded by the slow pit stop with Lando, led to a swap of positions. And we thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation pre-existing the pitstop and then let the guys race. This is what we did and this is what we think is compliant with our principles.”
Norris said several factors contributed to the team’s decision in Monza, and hypothetical situations in the future involving slow pit stops might not lead to the same outcome.
“We’re not idiots, we have plans for different things,” Norris said. “If there were four cars in between me and Oscar, of course he’s not going to let me back past.
“But in a situation where we weren’t racing, in a situation where we can just be fair, then you’d expect to be fair as a team. They don’t want to be the reason to upset one driver or another through no fault of their own, and today was not my fault.
“So if I came flat out into my pit box and I hit all my mechanics out the way, I also don’t expect to get the position back. But today was out of my control.
“In the end, I don’t want it to win this way, through getting given positions or anything like that. And the same thing with Oscar.
“But we don’t want to lose a win like that either. We do what we think is correct as a team, no matter what you say or what your opinions are, and we stick to doing it our way.”
Stella also agreed with Piastri that the situation needed to be reviewed ahead of the next race to ensure both drivers and the team are in agreement for the remainder of the season.
“We will review the case,” Stella said. “We will review also the situation whereby it was a slow pitstop in isolation.
“We already have our principles in relation to that. We will review our principles in relation to that. And reinforce the direction if this is in agreement with our drivers.”
