‘It’s fair’: Team player Oscar plays down Monza grumble
Ian Chadband |
Oscar Piastri has played the part of honourable team man, disguising his initial dismay about the controversial orders from his McLaren bosses at the Italian Grand Prix which has allowed Lando Norris to nibble into his world championship lead.
On an afternoon when Max Verstappen dominated the fastest grand prix of all time to win by 19.2 seconds in his Red Bull, his procession was overshadowed by the team-orders drama behind featuring the two title-chasing McLaren drivers.
Australia’s world championship leader Piastri was ordered to let nearest challenger Norris past in the dying stages after the Englishman had suffered a slow pit-stop because of a wheelgun mistake in Sunday’s (Monday AEST) race.
Norris had been set to finish a comfortable runner-up, and had agreed to pit before his teammate with seven laps remaining, being assured he wouldn’t be undercut.
But he came out behind Piastri after the botched stop cost him nearly six seconds, only for the Australian to be ordered by McLaren to move aside, which he did on the 49th lap of 53.
Piastri clearly wasn’t happy. “We said that a slow pit-stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what changed here — but I will do it,” he grumbled over the team radio.
Little wonder. The move allowed Norris to retake second place to Piastri’s third, with the Englishman thus reducing the gap in the championship race from 34 points to 31. If he had finished second, Piastri would have been 37 points clear.
But later, after receiving congratulations from team principal Andrea Stella for acceding without fuss to the team’s request, a reflective Piastri declared: “I think today was a fair request.
“Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race, and lost the spot through no fault of his own. So, I said what I had to say on the radio and once I got the second request, I’m not going against the team.
“There’s a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and I. Ultimately that’s a very important thing going forward.”
It was admirable public stance from the 24-year-old, even if privately, he may have felt different. “I’m sure we’ll review it and discuss more,” he also noted.
Norris, who’d had more bad luck last week when suffering a mechanical retirement in Zandvoort, said it would have been different if the pit-lane mistake had been his own.
“If I came flat-out into my box and hit all my mechanics out of the way, I also don’t expect to get the position back, but today was out of my control,” he said, suggesting he would have taken the same action as Piastri.
There was no arguing about the winner, though, as Verstappen won only his third race of the season – and his first since May – a day after setting a new lap record at Monza in qualifying.
His average speed on Sunday, as he enjoyed the 66th win of his career, was an all-time record 250.706kph around the ‘Temple of Speed’.
Typically, he found the McLaren discomfort quite amusing. “Just because of a slow pit-stop?” he laughed over the radio when informed the pair had traded positions.
The only drama for him occurred on a chaotic first corner when Norris had to divert on to the grass as he tried to get past pole sitter Verstappen, who was also forced to cut the corner.
It left Norris spluttering: “What’s this idiot doing?” and by the second lap he was in front after Verstappen let him past. The Dutchman, though, burst past on lap four and never looked back.
Piastri, starting third on the grid, enjoyed an early ding-dong with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, losing his spot briefly before responding with a neat overtake.
Leclerc ended up fourth, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, while Lewis Hamilton made up four places from 10th – after he served a five-place grid penalty – to finish sixth.
AAP
