Lando Norris said he should have fought his team mate Oscar Piastri harder when he lost the lead to him on the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix.
Piastri swept around the outside of the pole-winner at the Roggia chicane on the first lap of the race. As well as losing a position to his team mate, Norris’ poor exit from the corner allowed Charles Leclerc to take advantage.Speaking in the press conference after the race, Norris said he should have “braked a bit later,” but admitted that would have put the two McLaren cars in a risky situation.
“Sometimes it’s easier said than done. Oscar obviously braked on the limit and gave me space. It was just about enough. I did my best to avoid anything else happening at the time.
“But at the same time, if I brake two metres later, you don’t know and you can’t predict. Two metres later and it could easily have been a crash. So it’s a tough one.
“The easiest thing is just to brake way later and force him off and kind of treat it like [anyone] else. I obviously took it easy. I saw we had a massive gap behind, so maybe I was just a bit too much on the cautious side and paid the price.”
However Piastri pointed out that under F1’s racing rules, because he had drawn fully alongside Norris on the outside of the corner, Norris had to leave him room.
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“I braked later and got around the outside,” he said. “There wasn’t really much more to it than that.
“We both got through unscathed. I knew once I hit the brakes, I kind of got ahead a bit and I knew I was entitled to stay on the outside.
“Ultimately, for 38 laps of that race, it put me in a race-winning position. So for me, it was just a good first lap.”
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Mog
2nd September 2024, 9:40
Oscar, in my opinion, should have done what he did, and perform in such a way that the rest of the world notices he is pretty good. His future hangs in the balance here, will he be relegated to another F1 also ran whilst the sport cashes in on Norris, or will the sport accept him as a future champion. In my opinion, he is the latter.
Norris, on the other hand, hasn’t really demonstrated the cutting edge mentality required to win like Lewis and Max have done.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
2nd September 2024, 11:26
Can’t really blame him for that… it was the first lap, a collision between teammates leading the race, in a dominant car, would have been a disaster for the team. Plus, they were most likely heavily grilled before the race with the “papaya rules” (no touching), so there was no point to risk it.
What you’re saying regarding Oscar that he should take every chance and prove he’s not an “also ran” driver is fair from a fan’s POV, but this is a team sport and ultimately his individualistic approach probably lost the team 9 points. He’s getting paid big bucks to maximize the team constructors’ points, not to make a name for himself.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd September 2024, 12:14
@gechichan The problems lies with the team management, not Piastri. Brown and Stella clearly gave him the go ahead too ‘engage’ with Norris – Zak Brown on the grid said they were free to race – and Piastri seized the one chance presented to him, even if it was Verstappen-style in ‘we have contact or I pass.’ You’re right Norris opted for the latter, but that was precisely Piastri’s calculation. So really only the team can (try to) impose limits and insist that the first priority is to secure a one-two running order.
Even now McLaren are sending out mixed signals and appear, basically, confused. The Guardian reports the following today:
So now they believe they’re in a title fight for the WDC too! Yet they still haven’t concluded that swapping would be right. Presumably they’re waiting until Piastri has no mathematical chance of winning the drivers’ championship? By when of course it would probably be too late for Norris to benefit as well.
Whatever. I’m going to root for Leclerc winning every race for the remainder of the season. I don’t think anyone at McLaren is worthy of the title.
Doh
2nd September 2024, 19:14
I’m thinking about leclerc also. He needs 11 per race over max and Norris needs 8. He also overall has the slower car but I’d still feel more confident with him. Again I won’t be surprised if he finishes ahead or Norris this season but it will depend largelyon Ferrari consistency, and a little extra performance too.
mog
2nd September 2024, 21:12
From a team perspective, Piastri has not lost the team points. You assume that Norris would have won, which is far from guaranteed. No money is awarded for the drivers’ championship, its team points, and McLaren actually did pretty well in the constructors at Monza.
Edvaldo
2nd September 2024, 12:43
Baby steps for Lando Norris.
His season has “How to become a champion 101” written all over it.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd September 2024, 12:46
Maybe how not become a champion? I don’t feel he’s learning.
An Sionnach
2nd September 2024, 12:45
I’m not sure Oscar was racing by these “papaya” rules. Lando had to do what he did or the two of them could have been out of the race. Oscar got the better start, Lando covered him off, but then had to back off to make sure he finished the race at all. Good move from Lando. He kept his chances alive. If Red Bull is now the fourth fastest team and the others continue to forge forward, Max will struggle to finish above fifth place. Lando has to drive for the championship, and that’s what he’s doing. Oscar is driving for every win he can get.
I like Lando’s response to the question from Nico Rosberg about Oscar taking points off him:
“Well done to him, he did a good job, he got past me and he deserved it!”
Lando’s thought process seems to be whether in doubt or not, blame Lando. He did a good job here. McLaren might want to examine the reasoning for the second pit stops. Yes, they’d be slower at the end, but if the cars they’re racing are also slow and they’re ahead, that should be good enough.
I like how Ricciardo held his hand up for the incident with Hulkenberg. He seems to be improving. Needs to tidy a few things up.
I also like how uncharacteristically(?) restrained Tsunoda was about his retirement.
“…unnecessary move from him”
-Precisely, Yuki
Fantastic from Charles. I think a number of drivers are maturing this season. Great work from him. He’s driven many steady races this year where he’s managed his pace and saved his tyres. He already has the qualifying pace and is becoming more of an all-round driver.
MichaelN
2nd September 2024, 14:43
Look at the gap to Leclerc in that photo. Even with that sizeable gap Norris still lost a place. The first lap is a terrible moment to enact ‘let them race’ shenanigans. Monza 2018 also saw Räikkönen pointlessly squabble with Vettel, putting the latter in reach of Hamilton, which led to the awkward tap and dramatic spin.
Someone driving for the championship – especially someone behind on points – will always be more cautious than someone who races for fluke wins. That’s an advantage Piastri exploited, but from the team’s perspective it might well end up being a self-defeating dynamic. Chances to win titles in F1 are rare enough. It’s even rarer that a leading team suddenly loses a lot of pace. McLaren has a golden opportunity to win one, maybe even two titles this year. There’s zero guarantees they’ll get another chance next season. They should go all in on this one. Even if it means telling Piastri to play along.
People rightly point out Norris has missed a lot of point scoring opportunities. But Piastri has over 40 points fewer still. Now is not the time for heroics, but for teamwork. All the more so if the driver ultimately can’t deliver the win – which Piastri failed to do.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd September 2024, 15:16
+1
sam
2nd September 2024, 16:50
It’s up to the drivers to see who is faster/better.
Unless you want the old Ferrari team orders fiasco every race. See Stellas past.
Doh
2nd September 2024, 19:26
Title battles are rare in F1. Nowt they have become more so and will increasingly rare in the future. I’d much rather see a potential title battle. As for who is faster Norris has shown to be overall the faster driver, case in point he’s 40 points ahead of his teammate and was faster than Oscar even when Oscar won.
F1 currently has 27 gp’s worth of points available over a season, not something that will often sustain a season long title race
PeteB (@peteb)
2nd September 2024, 17:06
Again it just comes down to not having the Championship winning mindset that he needs. If it was Hamilton, Vettel, Max, Schumacher, Senna, Alonso etc in that position, they’d have braked a couple of meters later and would have shoved Piastri off the track. You don’t win titles by being a nice guy.