‘It’s the most fair way’ – Norris gives his take on late-race position swap with Piastri in Italy

Lando Norris has made it clear that he and McLaren would have done “exactly the same thing” if the roles were reversed after team mate Oscar Piastri obeyed team orders in the final stages of the Italian Grand Prix.

In a race dominated by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who pitted earlier to swap his starting set of medium tyres for hards, McLaren left it until the closing laps to bring Norris and Piastri in and give them soft rubber.

However, following Piastri’s smooth stop on Lap 45 of 53, a slower service for Norris next time around meant the Briton rejoined the track in third, giving the McLaren pit wall a headache to try and resolve.

McLaren quickly got on the radio and asked Piastri to give up the position, which the Australian ultimately did after a reminder of the situation at last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix and being told that the pair could then race to the finish.

Norris had enough in hand over Piastri to maintain second to the chequered flag, reducing his team mate’s championship advantage from 34 points to 31, but there were inevitably questions for all involved after the race.

“It’s what we decided as a team beforehand,” Norris explained. “If it was the other way around, we would have done exactly the same thing.

“It’s not how I want things to go… I don’t make these things, I don’t plan for these things, I don’t want to win or be second or third or whatever like this, but it’s the most fair thing, I think. If I was behind and Oscar had the same thing, I would have to give up my position.

“It’s not my fault, it’s not Oscar’s fault, it was a team mistake, which happens every now and then, and that cost me. I know it doesn’t look [like] the best thing. I don’t want it, but it’s the most fair at the end of the day for driver against driver.”

While he still missed out on victory to Verstappen, via a wheel-to-wheel exchange in the opening laps, Norris was pleased with his overall efforts at the Temple of Speed.

Reflecting on that early battle for the lead, Norris said: “I tried to keep it even on the braking into Turn 1, but I always know it’s going to be a good fight with Max, and it was, so [it was] enjoyable.

“Just not the speed today, not the pace of Max and the Red Bull, so a tricky one. It’s one of the first few weekends where we’re just a bit slow, but it was still fun, still a good race, so I enjoyed it.”

He added: “I did everything I could today. I tried to fight against Max, but we had a good race, he came out on top and he deserved it. So, nothing more, second was our best result. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing.”