Piastri: McLaren’s Orders and Their Consequences in Baku’s Collisions

Piastri Reveals Impact of Team Orders on Performance

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has admitted that the team orders received at the Italian Grand Prix still resonated in his mind during the complicated weekend in Baku. In Monza, the McLaren team instructed Piastri, then leader of the race, to concede second position to his teammate Lando Norris. This decision came after a mix-up in the pit stops.

Obviously, the previous race was Monza, where I didn’t feel it was a particularly good weekend for my performance and, obviously, the pit stops happened.

Oscar Piastri

Two weeks later, in Azerbaijan, Piastri suffered accidents in both qualifying and the race, resulting in a point-less weekend. This event marked the beginning of a streak that left him 24 points behind Norris, with three races remaining. Piastri commented that the decisions made in Monza had an impact on his performance. In the qualifying session, things didn’t work as he expected, which led him to push himself more than necessary. Furthermore, an engine problem in the first free practice session and the use of C6 tires, known for their difficult handling, contributed to the situation.

In Italy, Piastri was the first to pit due to the threat of Charles Leclerc, which hurt Norris. Piastri has acknowledged that this was his “worst weekend” in racing. Piastri described the weekend in Baku as “the perfect storm”, where several factors combined to create a challenging scenario. Despite this, Piastri highlighted the importance of learning from those experiences, considering them useful from a technical and emotional perspective.