McLaren used team directing in Monza. This happened after Norris fell behind Piastri due to a failed stop.
Lando Norris qualified in front of Oscar Piastrim. At the beginning of the race, the riders fought with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, but eventually the situation stabilized in the starting positions.
Andrea Stella explained that McLaren was waiting for a longer stop in case the safety car was driving (and it wasn’t so far after the collision of Sainz and Bearman). Then he would overcome soft and try to overtake Verstappen.
Piastri was the first to build. Norris went to the mechanics a round later, but his stop was longer and after returning to the track he fell as a teammate. McLaren then ordered to swap positions.
For Norris, this means that he reduced the loss to Piastri by 3 points.
Team principles
“I think the situation in the boxes is not only a matter of justice, but also a question of compliance with our principles,” explained Stella, quoted by Motorsport.com.
“Whatever the championship, it is important to take place in accordance with the principles and values ​​we profess in McLaren and that we created together with our riders.”
“We had a clear intention that it should not lead to the exchange of positions. We did it just because we were covering Leclerca and we waited until the last possible moment to see if the red flag would be posted or the Safety Car.”
“So we watched the team’s interest and to make this interest as much as possible, we had to stop first with an Oscar and then with Land, but the clear intention was that it would not go to exchange positions.”
Norris returned to Piastri after his stop. “We thought it was clearly right to go back to the situation in front of the boxes and let the boys race. We did it and we think it is in line with our principles.”
Asked if McLaren wanted to reconsider these principles, Stella answered that the team was constantly revising its processes, but that does not mean that they are making any changes.
“If you think everything you do is good, and you are not going to perform individual or team revision of nothing you do, or those things you do perfectly, you simply won’t move forward.”
“For me, revisions do not mean that ‘Um, we will certainly have to change’. We will potentially revise them, we will sweeten them and confirm them. The fact that I use this word does not mean that I use this word that McLaren is about to approach things.”
