Piastri Prioritizes Long-Term Success over Current Title Battle
Oscar Piastri has ruled out adopting a more aggressive approach in the fight for this year’s championship if that jeopardizes his long-term success with McLaren. The driver is in an intense battle with his teammate, Lando Norris, for this year’s drivers’ crown.
The difference between the two was reduced to 31 points after Piastri complied with a controversial team order at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
McLaren asked Piastri to concede second place to his teammate after a delay in Norris’s tire change in a late pit stop, which allowed Piastri to overtake Norris on the track.
The team order raised questions about McLaren’s possible interference in the battle for the championship and whether Piastri should have ignored the request and secured second place.
We’ve had some very good conversations this week about what happened and what can be clarified, what can be improved. That’s always a learning process, I suppose. But yes, ultimately, I know the team will have my best interests at heart.
Oscar Piastri
Piastri stated that constructive conversations have already taken place regarding the incident in Monza and that he fully trusts McLaren’s management in this situation.Oscar Piastri (izquierda) quiere asegurar el éxito del equipo McLaren en la lucha por el título de este año.“And, ultimately, I want to protect that because I can’t have my own success without the team having success. So protecting that is something very important to me,” added Piastri.
When asked if he would adopt a more ruthless approach in the remaining eight races to ensure he is crowned champion, Piastri replied: “Not at the cost of future success. Definitely not.”
In addition to Norris’ slow pit stop, the incident at Monza was further complicated because McLaren had their drivers pit outside their usual sequence to defend Piastri’s third position from the threat of Charles Leclerc, of Ferrari, in fourth place.
Norris even suggested by radio to the team that Piastri pit before him, but only with the understanding that his teammate would not gain a position with the “undercut” advantage of changing to new tires one lap earlier.
McLaren changed Piastri’s tires in 1.9 seconds on lap 45, the fastest pit stop by any team this season, while Norris’s stop took 5.9 seconds on lap 46, which left him in third place and behind Piastri when he exited the pits.
When his race engineer, Tom Stallard, first asked him to concede position, Piastri appeared to question whether Norris’ slow pit stop was sufficient reason to swap the cars.
“We said a slow pit stop was part of racing,” Piastri said on the radio to the team. “I really don’t understand what changed here… But if you want me to do it, I will.”
However, when Piastri heard Stallard repeat the order, he said he felt compelled to comply with the team’s wishes.
“I think at that point, obviously, I questioned it over the radio, as racing drivers tend to do and as we’re encouraged to do,” Piastri explained. “But I think, for me, once I had the second request, at that point I’m always going to respect that call.”
