Both Oscar Piastri and Rand Norris feel they have enough freedom to fight each other for the driver’s championship and disagree with a negative response to the interference of the pit wall.
McLaren ordered Piastri to move for Norris. Piastri says that despite flagging the slow pit stops as being considered part of the team’s race, it was officially mandated, and the choices McLaren made did not satisfy all observers.
“In the end, I think my biggest takeaway from Monza was my pace that weekend and my own performance, and I didn’t deserve to finish higher than third place, regardless of what else happened in the race,” Piastri said.
“Obviously, the decision we made as a team doesn’t have the right answer to that decision. If we did the opposite, you’d have half of the opposite of the fans who say it’s wrong.
“Are I surprised? It’s not really. Obviously, it’s a big moment from the race. And I feel it’s very quick to jump on something that many fans deem to be controversial. So, I’m not too surprised, but I think we have enough freedom to control our own destiny in the championship.”
McLaren and This weekend, we are about to close the Constructors ChampionshipPiastri says the talk has been given since Monza, which resolved the questions raised in the last race, but does not expect a different approach once the team secures the title.
“Of course there was an idea,” he said. “We had a good discussion with the team. It was obviously a very talkative moment. There was a lot of discussion, a lot of things revealed. And we know how we go to the race, which is the most important thing.
“I think there was a lot of discussion about how we want to go to the race, although not necessarily (we’re not going to change) for the Constructors Championship, and a lot of that is because, in the end, if we provide that information, everyone knows what we’re trying to do, and we’re a very easy target.
Norris pointed out that McLaren’s call from Monza’s pitwall didn’t prevent drivers from fighting each other after position swaps were made and was almost always left in the race by the team.
“99% of things (we’re free to race), but of course, how things look because of what happened last weekend gives everyone a very different opinion or oversight about things,” Norris said. “What happened in Hungary last year was very similar. Lead drivers get priority in the pit stop sequence. That’s exactly what was (and we’re dealing with) last weekend. These things haven’t changed.
“As soon as we just reestablished our position, Oscar was free to race me, but still had the advantage of basically starting out in the gearbox and trying to race me.
Like Piastri, Norris says decisions made by the team are expected to come for criticism, especially given the McLaren domination of both championships.
“It’s not the world we live in today. It’s something that everyone wants to do, it’s negative and it’s awful to talk about other people. So, honestly, that’s not a surprise,” he said.
“We also need headlines, and we also need people to read things, so that’s not a surprise from my side. But it doesn’t affect us either. That’s what you expect today, and I think it’s more negative than aggressive in the world we live in.
“We continue to do our best. Whether people agree with it or not, it’s not our problem and we don’t really care about it. So we’re happy, we’re focused on ourselves. Of course, you always want to do good. Your team is trying to do good.
“We want it to be fair. We want it to be equal for both of us. And then people can comment on what they like.”
