Piastri discards ruthless tactics for the title, prioritizes McLaren.

Piastri Prioritizes Long-Term Success over the Title Battle

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has ruled out adopting a more aggressive approach in the fight for this year’s championship if it compromises his long-term success with the team. Piastri is in intense competition with his teammate, Lando Norris, for the drivers’ title. The difference between the two was reduced to 31 points after Piastri complied with a controversial team order at the Italian Grand Prix. McLaren’s team order, which forced Piastri to concede second position to Norris, raised questions about the team’s possible interference in the battle for the championship.

We’ve had very good conversations this week about what happened and what can be clarified, what can be improved.

Oscar Piastri

In an interview, Piastri stated that constructive conversations have already been held regarding the Monza incident and that he fully trusts McLaren’s handling of the situation. Piastri emphasized the importance of protecting the team’s success, as he believes his own success depends on McLaren’s success. When asked if he would adopt a more aggressive approach in the remaining eight races to secure the championship, Piastri replied that he would not do so “at the cost of future success”.

The Monza incident was further complicated by McLaren’s strategy of pitting their drivers in a different order than usual, to defend Piastri’s third position against the threat of Charles Leclerc, from Ferrari. Norris went so far as to suggest by radio that Piastri pit before him, but only on the condition that his teammate not gain a position with the advantage of the “undercut” 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 caused him to drop to third position, behind Piastri. 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. However, upon hearing Stallard repeat the order, Piastri said he felt compelled to comply with the team’s wishes.