Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL60. 03.09.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 15, Italian Grand Prix, Monza, Italy, Race Day.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has branded the clash between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the Italian Grand Prix as “unacceptable”, stating the pair placed themselves above the team.
After Norris had stopped for new tyres, Piastri emerged out of the pits at the start of Lap 24 with the McLaren drivers ending up in close proximity approaching Turn 1.
While Norris swung his McLaren around the outside, Piastri went for the gap available on the inside but glanced the rear right tyre of his team-mate’s car with his front left.
Although neither Norris nor Piastri incurred damage from the minor touch and continued onwards, Stella slammed both drivers for their involvement in the incident.
“There should never ever be contact between two McLaren cars. There was a contact, which doesn’t fit the way we go racing at McLaren,” Stella said via Autosport.
“What is important is to have clear parameters as to what you deem acceptable and what you deem unacceptable. It’s not an emotion thing, it’s just like you do with other things.
“You deal with racing in a similar way. This is very clear that for any driver, there’s something bigger than them. It’s the team.”
But Stella has addressed that the team will need to review the coming together before taking action, citing that Piastri was possibly caught by being on colder Hard tyres.
“I need to review. Like all things, we will do it calmly. There’s nothing that we need to do urgently. We will take the adjustments that we need,” he explained.
“It’s always a little tricky when you leave the pits, especially on hard tyres. It could be that certainly Oscar was trying to see where he could place himself so that he could keep the position.
“But on colder tyres, this could be slightly more difficult than he might have anticipated. We could absolutely conclude that this is just a little misjudgement.
“Both drivers were aware that there must be no contact between two McLarens and it was just an issue with the execution – we all have issues with execution.”
Oscar Piastri (AUS) McLaren MCL60 leads Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL60. 03.09.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 15, Italian Grand Prix, Monza, Italy, Race Day.
Piastri had been running ahead of Norris throughout the opening stages of the race, having out-qualified his team-mate for only the third time this season on Saturday.
However, Norris, who had radioed in to express he was faster, was pitted before Piastri, thus granting him the undercut to gain the position on his team-mate.
Stella says he will need to instigate talks with both drivers if it transpires Norris being handed the preferential strategy was the primary reason for the collision, underlining that the drivers should never prioritise their individual prospects over the team.
“If the contact is due to the fact that there was pressure because of the undercut, then we have something to review. Because it means drivers put their team at risk because of affirming themselves. This is not acceptable,” the Italian declared.
Nevertheless, Stella has denied that the McLaren duo will not be allowed to race in the future, drawing on the exciting scrap between the Ferraris as evidence of the sort of racing spectators “want to see”.
He added: “My role is to give them principles and a clear parameter within which they can race. This is what we want to see – it is exciting to see like the Ferraris today.
“In terms of how you stay within the parameter, it’s not for us to say because we are not the drivers. It’s actually within them to have the skillset to say, ‘the tyres are a bit cold, maybe I need to take more margin’. They need to appreciate that there is no way the line should be crossed.”
Keyword: McLaren: ‘Unacceptable’ drivers put themselves before the team