Piastri: “Fair” team order in Monza, but McLaren to review strategy

Piastri Remains Unfazed by Team Orders at Monza

Pilot Oscar Piastri downplayed the controversy generated by McLaren’s team orders at the Italian Grand Prix, calling it “fair” to concede position to his teammate Lando Norris in the final stages of the race. Both Piastri and team boss Andrea Stella confirmed that the situation will be analyzed and reviewed before the next competition in Azerbaijan. Piastri, who was in third position, behind Norris and Max Verstappen, was the subject of a McLaren strategy that delayed the pit stops of both cars in the hope of gaining an advantage from a possible safety car. To protect Piastri’s podium from the threat of Charles Leclerc, the Australian was called into the pits before Norris, a decision that broke with McLaren’s custom of favoring the strategy of the leading car. Although Norris was informed by radio that the second stop would not relegate him behind Piastri, a slow change of the front left tire delayed him, emerging behind his teammate and rival. Piastri was told to slow down and let Norris regain second position before both drivers raced to the finish.

“It’s something we’ll discuss. We’ve discussed it before. I think today was a fair request. Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race and lost that position through no fault of his own”.

Oscar Piastri

Norris finished ahead of Piastri, taking three points off his teammate’s lead in the championship, which is now 31 points with eight races remaining. The situation recalled last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where the pit stop sequence favored Norris, before he was asked to give the position back to Piastri.

In Monza, Stella explained that allowing Piastri to pit before Norris was a key factor in the decision to swap the cars once Norris fell behind his teammate. “The situation in which we swapped our drivers is not only related to the pit stop, but also to the fact that we wanted to sequence the two cars and pit Oscar first and then Lando. This shouldn’t have led to a position swap. It was done because we were covering Leclerc, and at the same time we were waiting until the last possible moment to see if there would be a red flag or a safety car.” Norris commented that several factors influenced the team’s decision in Monza, and future hypothetical situations with slow pit stops might not lead to the same result. “We are not idiots, we have plans for different things,” Norris said. “In a situation where we were not competing, in a situation where we can be fair, then we are expected to be fair as a team. They don’t want to be the reason for upsetting a driver or another without it being their fault, and today it wasn’t my fault.” Stella also agreed with Piastri that the situation needed to be reviewed before the next race to ensure that both the drivers and the team are in agreement for the rest of the season.