McLaren have said that they did not consider swapping Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix, but admitted that they may consider favouring the Englishman over his team-mate as the season progresses.
Even as it became clear that victory had slipped from their grasp and second-placed man Piastri would not chase down race winner Charles Leclerc, the team opted not to give Norris a helping hand in his title fight with Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman finished down in sixth, claiming eight points with Norris taking 16 points for third and fastest lap. Yet had they switched their cars on the final lap the margin in the driver standings would be 59 and not the 62 it currently stands at.
“We did not consider that. We considered other ways during the race to make sure that Lando had his own opportunities but we didn’t consider the swap because we were still willing to put as much pressure as possible on Leclerc,” team principal Andrea Stella said.
“I think both drivers are mathematically in contention but Lando is obviously in the best position from a numbers point of view. We are fighting Max Verstappen, so I think if we want to give support to one driver we definitely have to pick the driver that is in the best position and I think Lando has been doing very well.
“Even from a drivers’ point of view with the performance that we have at the moment in the car and some of the struggles that we see with Red Bull, it is definitely possible. If we are going to achieve both as a team we need to put the team in condition and put Lando in condition to pursue both championships.”
Stella recognised that a time may come when they need to favour one driver, most likely Norris, but stressed the complications of this situation. “I think No 1 [driver] kind of works well as a headline but I am not sure it works very well in the real world,” he said.
Given Red Bull’s recent struggles, McLaren seemed more concerned with enforcing their recently-revealed “papaya rules” of team synergy, in order to maximise their drivers’ championship hopes. In a slightly nebulous answer that recalled former McLaren chief Ron Dennis, Stella said that both championships – they trail Red Bull by just eight points – are now possible.
“We will take the learning if there is any learning that we will need to take and then we will adjust the ‘papaya rules’ such that they allow us to pursue in the best possible manner both the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship,” he said.
“In our conversations even before the race here we acknowledge that Lando is in the best position from a drivers’ championship point of view. We have conversations with Oscar, we have conversations with Lando and we have conversations together and then we define our rules of engagement.”
It was overall a bizarre – but perhaps characteristic – decision on a slightly scruffy afternoon for the team who locked out the front row at Monza. Norris kept his lead off the line but then lost it to Piastri at the second chicane as the pair fought in close quarters. A slow exit then dropped him back to third behind Leclerc. That is where McLaren’s afternoon moved into a strategic and operational dilemma that they never escaped from as Ferrari’s one-stop strategy helped them to a memorable victory.
It was not the first time this season that McLaren have failed to take a winning chance with near misses in Canada, Spain, Austria and Great Britain. Even Piastri’s win in Hungary came with the complication of a team orders row.
Norris cut a disconsolate figure in the cool down room afterwards. Piastri, who looked favourite for the victory for much of the afternoon, said that missing out on a second career victory was painful.
“I’m not gonna lie, it hurts a lot. We did a lot of things right today,” he said. “Today unfortunately we got it a bit wrong and myself being a big part of that. My front left was pretty grained. We didn’t expect it to clear up again, which it did. Yeah, painful.”
Stella, however, denied that McLaren had the best package on Sunday. “I think Leclerc was as fast as McLaren today because he could stay with Oscar in the first stint. Normally when you have the dirty air and you can stay with the race leader it means that you are as fast as the race leader.
“Even in the second stint he was behind the two McLarens and he could stay with the two McLarens. Ferrari this weekend, they were as competitive for us, at least with Leclerc. It meant that we couldn’t simply cruise in the race. It’s good news because we have more cars that can take points off Red Bull.”