Oscar Piastri agreed to McLaren switching his and Lando Norris’ positions late on in the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, emphasising he had the team’s “culture to protect”.
The Australian was running in third late in the race at Monza, with Norris running in second place, who was about to make his solitary tyre stop.
Norris offered the opportunity for Piastri to pit first, which was heeded as the team wished for the Australian to solidify his podium place with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc closing in fourth.
When Norris pitted a lap later, a misfiring wheel gun saw his left front tyre take several seconds to be sufficiently attached, which let Piastri through into second place.
With McLaren’s ideology of fairness at the forefront of its collective minds, Piastri was requested to give the place back to his team-mate and chief title rival.
“I mean, we said that a slow pitstop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here,” he said to his engineer, Tom Stallard, but complied and let Norris through.
After the race, Piastri was asked about the switch, and seemed more level about the situation, admitting the fairness of the team’s request.
“It’s something that we’ll discuss. We have discussed it before, but I think today it was a fair request,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race and lost that spot through no fault of his own.
“So said what I had to say on the radio and once I got the second request then I’m not gonna go against the team.
“So I think there’s a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and I, and ultimately that’s a very important thing going forward.”
Piastri wouldn’t regret McLaren switch if it decided title in Norris’ favour
A similar situation occurred at last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, when Norris handed the lead back to Piastri with two laps to go.
When asked if he was surprised by the request, Piastri denied that he was, saying that situations such as these are regularly discussed within the team.
“I mean, no, not really,” he responded. “I think we have had discussions about all kinds of scenarios and I think when you’re in the same team, then, when there’s things outside a driver’s control, there’s a lot more ways you can rectify things.
“So it is a discussion we’ve had. I’m sure we’ll review it and discuss more, but it wasn’t a situation that hadn’t been discussed before.”
Piastri was asked if he would regret the decision if it proved to be the difference in the title fight in Norris’ favour, he denied he would, reemphasising the victor’s performances will decide the outcome, and nothing else.
“I wouldn’t regret it, no. Yeah, I mean, I think today it was a fair decision. You know, Lando was ahead the whole race. And again, it wasn’t through any fault of his own.
“So I think for me, that’s fine. And ultimately, whoever wins the championship wants to have won it as much as they can through their own performances and things that they can control. And today, that wasn’t one of those things.”
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