This time McLaren asked Oscar Piastri to support Lando Norris

No more shooting yourself in the foot! The last Monza Grand Prix will therefore have acted as a revelation for the team's senior management. McLaren. In Italy, Lando Norris et Oscar piastri qualified first and second, but the Australian overtook the Briton on the opening lap and the incident led Charles Leclerc to fit between the two McLarens. The driver Ferrari finally won ahead of Piastri and Norris, Verstappen finishing in a painful sixth place.

"What we don't want to see anymore is a situation like at Monza where we go into a chicane P1/P2 and we come out P1/P3, explains Andrea Stella, Team Principal, in an interview with our British colleagues from the with the BBC. "It's a detriment to the team. The team's interests come first and these are the situations we have to resolve first and foremost because, ultimately, it's the way we entered the race at Monza that opened the door to this situation."

A situation discussed during a series of meetings between McLaren management and the drivers once back at the factory where it was finally decided that Lando Norris, who goes into this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix 62 points behind Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship and with a maximum of 232 points still available, will now have priority. It remains to be seen what form that priority will take.

Understanding Piastri!

A change of philosophy accepted by the drivers, Piastri obviously being the one with the most to concede. “The conversations were very open, Stella is pleased. Even when I said to Oscar, 'Would you be willing to give up a victory?' He said, 'It hurts, but if it's the right thing to do right now, I'll do it.' If the Italian manager refused in the same interview to give details on the choices that could be made in favor of Norris, he assured that any action aimed at supporting the Briton in the race for the Drivers' title would only be done in compliance with the team's principles of sportsmanship and fairness.

Andrea Stella says he is impressed by the level of team spirit of his drivers / Photo DPPI

“The whole concept is that we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win the right way, He says. We will be directing our support towards Lando, but we want to do it without compromising too much on our principles. Every driver is made to go for the win, and so I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit, maturity and collaboration expressed.

While the strategy adopted is certainly the best response to the current situation – also in the Constructors' Championship where McLaren is only eight points behind Red Bull and could take the lead this weekend – how it is applied will be crucial. And even if McLaren and Piastri play their roles perfectly, the fact remains that Norris will have to do a little better himself. If he can judge certain situations a little better, he will not need direct help. From then on, Piastri's role will be to take points from Verstappen, rather than give them to his team-mate.

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