F1 News
Piastri's controversial move divides opinion: 'Should they have done that?'
Oscar Piastri's aggressive first-lap overtake on teammate Lando Norris has divided the opinion of the paddock. The race-changing manoeuvre meant that Norris finished behind Piastri. The Brit eventually crossed the line in third place as Charles Leclerc took an emphatic victory in front of the adoring Tifosi. Norris thinks Piastri's move was too aggressive, as he scored fewer points than he hoped in the hunt to cut down Max Verstappen's championship lead. Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok debated this, as he thinks Piastri's move was completely fair.
The Australian's forceful move meant that Norris had not led the first lap after starting from pole for the seventh time in his career. Norris clearly was upset and angry with the move. F1TV analyst Will Buxton was 'baffled' by McLaren's decision to leave Piastri in front of Norris due to the championship battle, but Chandhok believes the moment was hard, fair racing.
Chandhok: Piastri was 'absolutely fair'
"As we get into the braking zone, and we look at the apex, Lando's got plenty of space. Oscar has left him a car's width, so he hasn't squeezed him, he hasn't pinched him, but he's put himself in a position to crucially be in front at that second apex. His eye is already looking at that second apex and thinks, 'I want to be the inside line there', and Lando had to have a massive snap of oversteer, which really compromised his exit," Chandhok began on Sky Sports.
"He had to hang on the brakes a lot longer than he would have liked. That compromised the exit and allowed Charles to get that run. In terms of pure hard racing, I think that was absolutely fair, and Oscar did a fantastic job braking on the clean side, giving his rival space and coming through. Whether they should have been doing that with team orders is a conversation for McLaren to be having, I'm sure, in the debrief," the Indian driver concluded.
Piastri managed to stay in front of his teammate the whole race, but more importantly, McLaren lost the victory to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, who extended their stint. A fast-charging Piastri, who pitted twice, didn't have enough in the tank to overtake Leclerc, who ran on ruined hard tyres.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella revealed to GPblog and others in the paddock that his team didn't once consider swapping the pair around in pursuit of the driver's world championship.
Stella: 'We didn't consider the swap'
"We did not consider that. We considered other ways during the race to make sure that Lando had his own opportunities. But we didn't consider the swap, even because we were still willing to put as much pressure as possible on Leclerc and eventually induce him to have a problem with the front left like a lock-up in one of the chicanes," the Italian revealed.
This time out, McLaren was beaten fair and square but will be hoping to continue cutting into Red Bull's lead in both championships in Baku in a few weeks.
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