What Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri said about the race-defining team order at Italian GP

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have both defended McLaren’s instruction to swap positions late on, insisting the harmony of the team is more important than the individual.

McLaren found itself again in an awkward team order situation after a slow stop for Norris put him behind Piastri, before the Australian duly moved out of the way following instruction from the pit wall.

McLaren duo defend team orders after Italian GP

In a move that seemed almost unique to the McLaren team, Piastri was told to give up second despite having done nothing wrong, while Norris was given a second chance following a problem with his front left tyre change.

The situation was put under more focus given that one of those two will win the World Championship, and questions have been raised whether the likes of Max Verstappen, who won the race, would have obeyed such an order.

But both drivers stood firm in their defence of McLaren, saying it was the right thing for the team.

“It’s something that we’ll discuss,” Piastri said. “We have discussed it before, but 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.

“There’s a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and I. Ultimately, that’s a very important thing.

“We have had discussions about all kinds of scenarios and I think when you’re in the same team, when there’s things outside a driver’s control, there’s a lot more ways you can rectify things.

“I’m sure we’ll review it and discuss more. But it wasn’t a situation that hadn’t been discussed before.”

Norris meanwhile said it was not his decision and suggested he would have done the same had the roles been reversed.

“It’s not my decision in the end so got nothing to say,” he said. “It’s what we decided as a team and it’s what we all agreed upon.

“Like Oscar said, every situation is different, so I think it’s pretty stupid just to assume that kind of thing and just say that’s the precedent.

“We’re not idiots and we have plans for different things. If there were four cars in between me and Oscar, of course, he’s not going to let me back past and I don’t think that’s correct that he 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. Today was not my fault. If I came flat out into my 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.

“And in the end, I don’t want to win [the title] this way, through getting given positions or anything like that. And the same thing, we don’t want to lose a win like that. But 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.”

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Piastri was then asked if he would regret the move should his title bid ultimately fall short by the three points he gave up in Monza.

“I think today, it was a fair decision,” he insisted.

“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. 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.

“We’ve said many, many times now that we don’t want the chance of success just for this year. There’s a big regulation change next year, we don’t know how competitive we’re going to be. We don’t know how competitive anyone’s going to be.

“But, ultimately, we want the best chance at winning championships for as long as we’re Formula 1 drivers, and we’re both at McLaren for a very long time, and protecting the people around us that give us this opportunity is a very important thing.

“I think it’s easy enough to put yourself second at times like that.”

Norris concluded by saying that there are a number of examples of respect falling away in teams and that he hoped McLaren’s would last the distance.

“When you see teams who don’t have some sort of respect, enough respect for the team and the opportunities that the team give, it doesn’t normally last long,” he said.

“And you see that with plenty of other teams, whether it’s been Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes, and we want to try and be in this position for a longer period of time than what they have been at the top.

“So still early days. It’s only our second year of fighting for wins, but like Oscar said, the team give us these opportunities. Without the team, then we’re just fighting for 10th, and none of us want that. So team and the morale, the spirit of the team, is priority, and we’re below that.”

Verstappen was sat alongside the McLaren duo as they spoke but chose to keep his nose out of the debate when the question was put to him.

“I know that you guys want the fun answer but it’s not my problem,” he said.

Piastri now leads the championship from Norris by 31 points with eight races remaining.

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