McLaren to “review” racing between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri following Italian GP

After Lando Norris was heard accusing team-mate Oscar Piastri of forcing him off-track in the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, McLaren admits it will “review” its terms of engagement when the two drivers face one another on track.

In Sunday’s 53-lap race at Monza, Piastri started sixth while Norris lined up eighth. By the closing stages of the race, the pair had begun tussling for position as the Briton first passed his team-mate on lap 48 to take fourth.

Piastri took back the position a lap later, and Norris then attempted to re-take the position with less than a handful of laps remaining. As the Briton attempted to pass Piastri yet again, he moved for a closing gap on the left-hand side, ran out of room and dipped two wheels on the grass, suggesting Piastri “pushed me off”.

The altercation caught the attention of McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who explained that initially the team didn’t see fit to interfere in the pair’s race as it sought to stick to its “philosophy of going racing”.

Andrea Stella says the incident between his drivers was “benign”

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

“The two cars were on the same tyres, same tyre age, same car, so we thought there was no need to interfere with the normal development of the race,” Stella said. “We let them race. We think that was the right thing to do.

“The moment in which Lando put the wheels on the grass, he came on the radio, he made a comment like he pushed me off or something, but actually when we reviewed it, I think we saw that the episode is much more benign than what it might have looked in the heat of the moment.

“So, I think it’s something that certainly we will review and we will review in the context of this kind of racing, because I think you are right in highlighting that as soon as you fight with each other, then you may lose time.

“So, was there a better way for McLaren to give a fight to [Max] Verstappen? We will review. It wasn’t obvious to us at the pit wall, and we thought that it was more important to let them race according to our philosophy of going racing.”

The British team has a history of launching internal reviews following the Monza round. Last year, its infamous papaya rules were thrown into the spotlight when Piastri was ordered to let Norris by in the race. 

Despite the impending outcome of any such inquiry, Stella admits that his team had little chance of defending from Verstappen in Sunday’s race. The Dutchman eventually passed both McLarens to take the third step on the podium alongside George Russell and race winner Kimi Antonelli.

“I think overall Max was faster,” Stella conceded. “He was just caught in this hook that you have this year when you lose the slipstream here in Monza and you have to use the energy to defend from someone else.”

We want your opinion!

– The Motorsport.com Team