Priority to Lando
In the Baku paddock these days the main topic of discussion has been the new ‘rules of engagement’ defined by McLaren in an attempt to finally optimize the performance of their car in the pursuit of Red Bull and especially Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ championship. Compared to the ‘free for all’ that has characterized the papaya team in these first two thirds of the championship, from Baku Andrea Stella and Zak Brown have explicitly stated that Lando Norris should get priority treatment compared to Oscar Piastri.
The aim is to maximise the points gain of the Englishman (currently 62 points behind the championship lead) over Verstappen and possibly avoid a repeat of what happened at the start of the Italian GP, when Piastri, in order to take first place from Norris, dropped his teammate to third place, ruining the team’s strategic race plan and opening the doors to the subsequent victory for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc.
There were no agreements in Monza
Interviewed in Baku by colleagues from F1TV, however, Piastri held firm regarding what happened on the first lap in Monza, explicitly reiterating that there was no agreement according to which Norris had to remain in command of the race after the start: “Did I break an agreement in Monza? No,” the Australian declared. “So why was Norris surprised? Because of the aggressiveness of your move?” the journalist pressed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure,” replied the winner of the Hungarian GP, “for me we were free to race.”
“Obviously,” Piastri continued, “coming out of that corner first and third was not ideal for the team, but we were free to race and duel each other. Obviously, given the result, I would change something. But in that situation we were free to challenge each other.”
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