Lando Norris failed to maximise his opportunity to make ground on Max Verstappen at the Italian GP; Norris started on pole but finished third after being overtaken by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri on the first lap at Monza; Verstappen leads Norris by 62 points with eight rounds remaining
Monday 2 September 2024 07:01, UK
Lando Norris criticised Oscar Piastri for getting "way too close for comfort" in pulling off an opening-lap overtake on his McLaren team-mate on the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix.
McLaren were perfectly positioned to control the race as pole-sitter Norris and Piastri held their positions at the first corner, but the Australian appeared to surprise his team-mate by going around the outside into Turn 4 and earning the inside line at the second part of the chicane.
Having been forced off line, Norris also lost second to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who went on to win the race after gambling on a one-stop strategy, with the McLarens finishing behind after two-stopping.
"I feel he got way too close for comfort," Norris told Sky Sports F1. "We could both have easily been out in that first corner if I broke one metre later.
"If I could rewind, I would do stuff slightly differently. But it is what it is.
"Charles won by two seconds in the end and the fact he got ahead probably gained him two seconds over the course of the race.
"We couldn't achieve a one-stop as our degradation was too high on the front tyres. That is a weakness for us at the minute."
Expanding on the incident later while sat alongside Piastri in the top three drivers' press conference, Norris suggested he had driven cautiously to avoid contact with his team-mate.
Asked what he could have done differently, Norris said: "Just brake a bit later, simple as that. But sometimes it's easier said than done.
"Oscar obviously braked on the limit and gave me space, there was just about enough. I did my best to avoid anything else happening at the time.
"At the same time, If I brake two metres later, you don't know and you can't predict, but it could easily have been a crash. It's a tough one. The easiest thing is just to brake way later and force him off, and kind of treat it like no one 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."
Piastri, who is 106 points behind Verstappen in the drivers' standings, was adamant he had simply pulled off a clean pass.
"I broke later and got around the outside," the Australian said. "There wasn't really much more to it than that.
"We both got through it unscathed. I knew once I hit the brakes I kind of got ahead a bit and knew I was entitled to stay on the outside. For 38 laps, it put me in a race-winning position. So it was just a good first lap."
Norris reduced Max Verstappen's lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship to 62 points but could have scored 10 more points by winning a race that he appeared to be in control of before Piastri's pass.
With Verstappen - who finished sixth - and Red Bull's struggles worsening by the week, Norris' hopes of catching the Dutchman are beginning to look more and more realistic with eight rounds remaining.
Norris also lost out to Piastri following a team orders controversy in Hungary before the summer break and could theoretically be 17 points closer to Verstappen had McLaren prioritised his hopes.
Asked whether he should receive the team's full backing, Norris said: "I would love it but it's not up to me. It's tough because, as any driver, you don't want things to just be played that way. It's a tough one.
"I won't say we're running out of time, but time is going away slowly. I still believe we can do it. The pace is obviously great. I still believe we probably had close to if not the best car again today.
"I don't know. It's not for me to decide. It's for the team. I think we're still working together well and helping each other. That's shown plenty of times this year that we're working together very well as a team and we're performing as the best team out on the grid, and we're very happy with that.
"But when you're fighting for a championship, you want every little thing and I'm doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race, and I didn't do that today because of some silly things, so this is for the team, not for me."
Sky Sports F1's Nico Rosberg said there would be "heated discussions" at McLaren following the incident.
After being passed by Piastri at the start, Norris was told that he would have to abide by 'papaya rules', which he later explained meant that the McLaren cars can battle but must avoid making contact.
Rosberg, 2016 world champion, said: "Papaya rules are race each other, but race cleanly.
"It was interesting to hear now from Lando that he thought Oscar went over the limit there in that battle, which was a new thing for me now.
"I didn't realise that he didn't think it was fair and square. That will be some heated discussions in the McLaren motorhome, and it's very difficult to manage.
"It's such a fine line - you write those rules down but then to really see if Oscar went over the limit, it's always so, so difficult.
"I say that he just did a great job there because he left the space and everything, he just did a fantastic job."
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