Andrea Stella, the team principal of McLaren, has defended the team’s decision to instruct Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to swap positions during the closing stages of the race, describing it as a “fair decision”. The Italian expressed his confusion over the controversy surrounding the decision.
After the Italian Grand Prix, Stella shrugged off questions about the order given to Piastri to let Norris pass. The Australian was in second place, with Norris in third. This was a reversal of their positions before both drivers’ pit stops. However, a slow stop cost Norris his position.
This was a stroke of luck for Piastri, the current leader in the World Championship. However, McLaren intervened. Piastri was instructed to give his position back to Norris. “We brought Oscar in first,” Stella explained, “but not with the intention of getting him out on the track ahead of Lando. That did happen, unfortunately due to a slow stop. We felt it was fairest to have the drivers swap places, reverting to the situation before that stop.”
According to Stella, this was not a consolation for the bad luck Norris experienced last week at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort. “The two incidents are unrelated, we don’t think like that. We take it race by race. And in this case, this was fair to Lando today, Oscar understands that. He can live with it.”
