Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri has affirmed McLaren‘s unified strategy as the Formula 1 season progresses, following a post-race decision at Monza that saw team orders alter the finishing positions of himself adn Lando Norris.
piastri clarified that McLaren’s decision to swap positions during the Italian Grand Prix stemmed from the team’s pit stop strategy, specifically the order in which the cars were serviced. Norris, who led for much of the race, experienced a four-second delay during his pit stop due to a left front wheel issue, costing him second place.
The team had initially opted to pit Piastri before Norris, a deviation from typical procedure. Following the problematic stop for Norris, McLaren decided to reinstate the original running order. piastri acknowledged a prior agreement within the team that pit stop difficulties were an inherent risk of racing, but explained the pit stop sequence became a key factor in the decision to swap.
“From Monza, there was another factor outside of the slow pit stop, being the order we pitted in.That was a contributing factor to why we swapped,” Piastri stated. He added, ”That one I’m happy to talk about because it happened. We can’t plan for every scenario but we are very aligned and I respect the team’s decisions and trust they will do their best to make the right one.”
Piastri also reflected on his performance at Monza, stating, “The biggest thing for me from Monza was it was a weekend where I deserved to finish third. I didn’t deserve to finish second because of the pace I had.I was quick at certain points but not quick enough the whole weekend. that is my main takeaway from that.”
He reaffirmed his stance on pit stop issues, saying, “that is a decision we’ve made, that a slow pit stop is a part of racing. In the car, the context wasn’t there about what else had happened in terms of the pit stop sequencing. So it was decided there was another factor for the reasoning in swapping.”
