McLaren intervened where it did not need to at the Italian Grand Prix and has created the potential for a farcical outcome of the title battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
It is human nature to desire control, over as many aspects of our lives as we possibly can, and the same is true in Formula 1. But in motorsport, as in life, the best-laid plans of race strategists and drivers often go awry. Luck, fate or whatever you want to call it intervenes. S*** happens.
Fate decided on Sunday afternoon that Lando Norris was not going to finish the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Oscar Piastri. The Brit had qualified better and spent the whole race in front of his team-mate, until a slow pit stop saw him re-enter the track in third place.
Had they raced for different teams, that would have been that. Piastri would have finished second, Norris third and the Aussie would have extended his championship lead to 37 points. But they do race for the same team, McLaren, who are determined to micro-manage this World championship at every opportunity.
Because they decided that fate had no right to deny Norris the chance to narrow the gap to Piastri. They decided that the Brit did not deserve to suffer another blow to his title hopes, one week on from the engine failure at Zandvoort which cost him 18 crucial points, and asked the championship leader to move aside.
Team principal Andrea Stella said after the race that it was “the fair thing to do”. To Piastri’s credit, he did not kick up a fuss and said he was okay with it, happy to move on. Few other drivers in his position would have been so diplomatic. And some others on the grid would not have complied in the first place.
The driver partnership, and the way McLaren have managed to keep things so cordial between them, is fascinating. The title battle is a two-horse race and F1 history is littered with examples of team-mates who were at each other’s throats as soon as it became clear individual glory was on the line.
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McLaren are virtually assured the constructors’ title and yet their drivers are still completely compliant, despite the only thing on the line being their individual ambitions. That is to be applauded and a big part of why this is the case is because of the much-derided ‘Papaya Rules’ that the team has in place for its drivers to strictly follow.
Up to now, they have been largely been applied in logical situations, such as at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year when Norris undercut his team-mate in the pits and, eventually, complied with the request to give the lead back. That was the example that Piastri was given over the radio at Monza on Sunday when he was asked to move over for his team-mate.
But, this time, the undercut was achieved only because of that slow pit stop. It could have happened to either driver. On this occasion, Norris was the unlucky one, except it did not matter because the team was having none of it and needlessly intervened. Stella said it was fair, but how is it fair to deny Piastri the chance to further extend his championship lead?
What it actually did was create an artificial result which has potentially changed the course of the title race. It has been tight between them all year and, if Norris ends up winning it by six points or fewer, then this farcical moment will have been the one that decided which McLaren driver becomes World champion.
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It also raises the question: Where is the line drawn when it comes to ‘fairness’, as far as McLaren are concerned? Was it unfair that Norris suffered that engine blowout at Zandvoort? Perhaps they need to send Piastri out at Baku in two weeks’ time with a faulty power unit to balance the scales.
Of course, that’s ridiculous – as ridiculous as the decision to meddle with the outcome of Sunday’s race at Monza, where they were so desperate to be ‘fair’ and not pick a side that they ended up… picking a side and helping Norris to not slip further behind Piastri in the title race.
McLaren are going to win both F1 titles this year, which will be an amazing result for the team. The hard work is done – now it’s time to take a step back and let their drivers decide among themselves which one of them takes the individual honours.