McLaren were criticised after the Italian Grand Prix for the team order they issued to Oscar Piastri, telling him to let Lando Norris by after the Brit lost position due to a slow pit stop
Lando Norris insists McLaren won’t change their approach to racing despite the backlash to their Monza team orders controversy. McLaren were blasted for interfering in the title race earlier this month when they ordered Oscar Piastri to let Norris pass after the Brit lost his place due to a slow pit stop.
But Norris is adamant it was the fair thing to do and, ahead of Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, said he doesn’t care if others disagree. Norris said: “[We’re free to race] for 99 percent of things. Of course, how things then looked because of something that happened last weekend gives everyone a very different opinion.
“But the fact is as soon as we re-established the position, Oscar could race me freely. He still had the advantage of starting basically on my gearbox and trying to race me, so he still gained overall. Otherwise, we’ve been free every time to race.
“It’s just in one lap of a pit sequence is when the lead driver always has priority. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will continue to be but, otherwise, like we said, we’re free to race.”
“We continue to do things our way, whether people agree with it or not. It’s not our problem and we don’t really care about that. We’re happy, we focus on ourselves. Of course, you always want good things to come out of it.
“The team are trying to do a good thing – whether people agree in the end of the day is not our problem. We want it to be fair, we want it to be equal for both of us and then people can comment whatever they like after that.”
READ MORE: Oscar Piastri makes McLaren F1 team orders admission with warning to Lando NorrisREAD MORE: How McLaren can win F1 title at Azerbaijan Grand Prix with SEVEN rounds to go
Piastri followed the instruction despite losing ground to Norris in the title race, with 31 points separating them rather than 37. But he admitted he may have done things differently had race winner Max Verstappen not been ahead and had a 14-point swing been on the table, rather than just six.
The Aussie said: “Would it have made it a bit more difficult? Probably yes. But I don’t know if the outcome would have been different. I am not planning on finding myself in that position.”
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With eight rounds remaining, Norris believes the small margins will decide the outcome of their individual quests for glory. He said: “When I just look at my results from last year, Singapore was one of my best last season. But Oscar has also improved this season. Even if I had the biggest advantage last year, I have to put it behind me and I have to reset and just look ahead to another season, another weekend.
“There’s not been any one of us dominating at any weekend this season. I don’t expect any greatness, I just expect close battles and, therefore, every little thing is important at the minute. And that’s also what I need, just to keep working hard.”