Piastri Calls McLaren Team Orders ‘Fair’ As Controversy Brews At Monza

• Oscar Piastri said it was “fair” to let Lando Norris retake position after a slow pit stop dropped him behind at the Italian Grand Prix.
• Andrea Stella stressed the swap was about consistency with McLaren’s principles and fairness, not favouring one driver.
• Norris admitted he did not want to inherit positions but said the team had to be “fair” when mistakes were out of the driver’s control.

Oscar Piastri downplayed the controversy surrounding McLaren’s team orders at the Italian Grand Prix, insisting it was “fair” for him to cede second place back to teammate Lando Norris in the closing stages at Monza.

The Australian was running behind Norris and Max Verstappen when McLaren delayed both cars’ pit stops in the hope of capitalising on a late safety car. To protect Piastri’s podium place from Charles Leclerc, he was brought in before Norris, breaking the team’s usual convention of favouring the lead car.

A slow front-left change in Norris’ stop meant he rejoined behind Piastri. Soon after, the team instructed Piastri to slow and allow his teammate back through. Piastri complied but voiced his doubts over the radio, saying: “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.”

Reflecting after the race, Piastri said: “It’s something that we’ll discuss — we have discussed it before. 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.”

Norris finished second, trimming Piastri’s championship lead to 31 points with eight rounds remaining.

Team principal Andrea Stella explained that the swap was about sticking to McLaren’s standards. “I think the pit stop 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 pit stop, 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 capitalize 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 preexisting the pit stop and then let the guys race. This is what we did and this is what we think is compliant with our principles.”

Norris supported the call but pointed out that every case would need to be judged on context. “We’re not idiots, we have plans for different things,” he 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 confirmed the matter will be reviewed to make sure there is clarity before the next race in Azerbaijan. “We will review the case,” he said. “We will review also the situation whereby it was a slow pit stop 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.”