The F1 grid is back for the Azerbaijan GP as Lando Norris sheds some light on McLaren’s controversial decisions from Monza. With the European leg of the 2025 season over, the series is back in Asia for the next two rounds before flying over to America.
Currently, the World Championship title fight is tight for the two McLaren drivers. After Norris managed to finish the Italian GP in second, his total points rose to 293. Moreover, this race weekend could have McLaren claim the win for the Constructors’ Championship if the team can outscore the others by 9 points. With pressure on his shoulders to perform, Norris will try his hardest to minimise mistakes and lower Piastri’s 31-point advantage.
The team orders at Monza
The Italian GP brought quite a controversy after McLaren had its drivers swap. Now, with the F1 Azerbaijan GP coming up, Norris went over the events which called for those difficult decisions. The Brit spoke in his print media session on some clarifications that had to be made post-race.
“All exactly as it was. I mean, some things had to be clarified. Like, there were some things at that point that I didn’t know about, the undercut from Leclerc. Those were things I didn’t know, like I said in my post-race interviews at the time.”
Nonetheless, while the motorsport world debated the whole incident, Norris and Piastri made peace with the decision. The 25-year-old highlighted the intricate factors that went into McLaren’s team orders:
“That also played a part in the reasoning of the decision that the team made. And the fact that it was not just the pit stop which made that decision. It was more so the other things. So yeah, I mean, clarification. But nothing from the fact that we both agreed with it after and accepted that’s what we agree as a team.”
Keeping things fair between drivers
McLaren Racing followed a strict policy this season as the title fight became a home battle. “Papaya rules”, as the engineers and drivers like to reference them, became part of the norm in terms of fairness. While the drivers are allowed to fight it out on track, the team will not favour one over the other.
However, things are not as easy in practice. When tensions are high, some team orders made to level the playing field can appear unfair. With Monza’s position swap debate, the Briton highlighted the lack of similar incidents throughout the 2025 season.
“I mean, honestly, I think there’s a lot less than you think. This was one of the first things in quite a long time. And like I just said, it wasn’t the fact I had a slow pit stop which was the reasoning. It was more the fact of the changing of positions, the sequencing of things,” explained Norris in a print media session ahead of the F1 Azerbaijan GP.
Lando Norris remains confident in his team, believing that the Italian incident was similar to one from the 2024 F1 Hungarian GP. With this comparison, the 25-year-old actually acknowledged the role that decision played into the Monza orders.
“Which was the same as, I know a very different time, but the same as Hungary last year. That was actually more the reasoning of it. Combined with the pit stop which then made the decision. There’s not been many things apart from that.
“Of course, they try and keep things fair between us. But it’s not been many things where they’ve had to actually get involved and do anything to help one or the other.”
Negativity surrounding the incident
McLaren’s decision to make its drivers swap caused a wave of disapproval and criticism to spread online. This is not the first time this year that something similar has happened after a controversial team order. With so much negativity following Monza, Norris admitted he was not surprised by the reactions they received.
“Not in the world that we live in nowadays. Because that’s all people want to do, be negative and talk badly about others. So, honestly, not a surprise. You know, you also need headlines. You also need people to read things. So not a surprise at all from my side.”
Emphasising the team’s wishes — a fair treatment towards both drivers, the Briton showed maturity as he disagreed with the outside comments. As McLaren will continue to make the decisions they see fit for the F1 Azerbaijan GP, Norris pointed out the need for equality.
“But it also doesn’t affect us as a team. It’s what you expect nowadays. And I think in the world that we live in is more negativity than ever positivity. So yeah, like we said, we continue to do things our way. Whether people agree with it or not. Not our problem. And we don’t really care about that.
“So we’re happy. We focus on ourselves. Of course, you always want good things to come out of it. The team are trying to do a good thing. Whether people agree at the end of the day is not our problem. We want it to be fair. We want it to be equal for both of us. And then people can comment whatever they like after that.”
