Oscar Piastri has opened up about the conversation McLaren sought to have with the drivers to understand their individual wishes for handling the outcome of the two-way F1 championship battle and the reaction of Andrea Stella to Lando Norris’s retirement in Zandvoort.
Following the contentious driver swap after the first and only round of pit stops at the Italian GP, Norris and Piastri crossed the line in second and third positions, respectively. This has cut the Australian’s lead in the championship standings down to 31 points with eight rounds to go.
Conversation about how the team celebrates not a priority
Earlier in August, CEO Zak Brown had proclaimed that McLaren would ask both Norris and Piastri how they want the team to celebrate when one of them inevitably wins the F1 Drivers’ Championship this season. He maintained that the Woking-based outfit intends to factor in the sentiments of the driver who would lose out on his maiden F1 title.
Asked whether this conversation has undergone any meaningful progress, Oscar Piastri revealed in a print media session ahead of the Italian GP that they have only briefly spoken about it. Stating that the McLaren duo have yet to decide how they want the team to approach the championship celebrations, the 24-year-old remarked that this deliberation is not a matter of priority.
“We’ve spoken about it a little bit. I don’t think it’s a discussion.
“It’s certainly not at the top of our list of important things, but I think we’re just trying to get a feel of what we would like.”
Acknowledging that the aftermath of the title fight would generate strikingly different emotions for the two drivers, Piastri admitted that he appreciates how McLaren are considerate towards their feelings. At the same time, he reiterated that this particular discussion wouldn’t gain further momentum.
“Obviously, for one of us, it’s going to be a pretty amazing time, and for the other, it’s going to be pretty painful.
“I think the team and Zak [Brown] are just very sensitive to that, which is nice.
“We’ve spoken about it a little bit, but I don’t think it really needs much more conversation.”
How Stella and the team have handled Norris’s retirement
Following Norris’s DNF at Zandvoort due to a car failure, team principal Andrea Stella expressed his frustration over the impact it might have on the neutral approach they have maintained so far on the track when it comes to the two-way race for the title.
In terms of how the Italian has coped with Norris’s retirement and whether there have been any discussions internally about the issue of bad luck that was involved, Oscar Piastri revealed that Stella has handled the situation to the best of his ability.
Emphasising that sudden mechanical failures can render both the drivers and the team helpless, Piastri furthermore insisted that he has no influence on how McLaren would manage the closely contested F1 championship battle between him and Norris going forward.
“Yeah, I mean, he [Stella] handled it as well as you can handle that situation, I think. It’s never nice, but at the same time, there’s nothing you can do about it from your side.
“Obviously, it’s a shame, and yes, it could have easily happened to me as well, but ultimately, that’s not really up for me now.”
Highlighting that reliability has been their forte in the past couple of years, the McLaren driver was also appreciative of how the team responded to the problem and has taken the necessary steps to prevent its recurrence in the future.
“The team’s reacted very well in terms of trying to diagnose the problem and rectifying or actioning things to make sure it doesn’t happen again. So I think from that side, it’s been as good a response as it could be.
“And it has been a long time since we’ve had a mechanical problem or a race-ending mechanical problem. So I think across the board, it’s been handled very well.”
