Oscar Piastri reveals ‘good discussions’ after McLaren’s controversial Monza call

Oscar Piastri says McLaren have clarified their decision to order him aside for Lando Norris and the title rivals agree that the controversial call would be made again.

A slow pit-stop for Norris a fortnight ago at Monza saw him drop from second to third behind team-mate Piastri before McLaren told their drivers to swap positions.

Norris, who cut Piastri’s championship lead to 31 points with eight races remaining as a result, had allowed Piastri to pit earlier than him.

The Australian backed the team to continue to preserve the best interest of both title challengers.

“Naturally there have been thoughts, we have had good discussions with the team. We have clarified a lot of things, we know how we will go racing going forwards,” Piastri said ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“I can’t get into every scenario. From Monza there was another factor outside of the slow pit stop, being the order we pitted in.

“That was a contributing factor as to why we swapped. You can’t plan for every scenario that is going to happen. I respect the team’s decisions and trust that they will make the right ones.

“I think in exactly the same scenario, I would expect it to be the same.”

When initially asked to allow Norris past, Piastri said on the team radio: “We said that a slow pit-stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what changed here.”

Piastri added: “I stand by that comment and that is a decision we have made, that a slow pit stop is a part of racing. In the car at the time the context was not there about what else had happened.”

Norris, who was booed on the podium at Monza by a small section of the supporters, reiterated that the team are in agreement about their approach.

“All exactly as it was, I mean some things had to be clarified, like there were some things I didn’t know in my first race interviews,” Norris said.

“Nothing apart from the fact that we both agreed with it after and accepted that’s what we agree as a team.

“The team try and keep things fair between us but there’s not been many things where they’ve had to actually get involved and do anything to help one or the other.”

Asked if he was surprised by adverse reactions to the decision, Norris added: “I think the world that we live in is more negativity than positivity.

“We said we continue to do things our way, whether people agree with it or not is not our problem and we don’t really care about that, so we’re happy, we focus on ourselves. The team are trying to do a good thing.”

McLaren can wrap up the constructors’ championship with a record seven races to spare this weekend. The reigning champions lead Ferrari by a massive 337 points.

“Last season went down to the final race, this year the car has been a step better, the team has been performing very well,” Piastri said.

“Much more of a sense of inevitability about this year which is an amazing position to be in.”