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Pole-sitter Lando Norris was overtaken by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri on the first lap of the Italian GP; McLaren chief Zak Brown described the pass as “aggressive” and says the team will review it; Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won the race as Piastri and Norris finished second and third.
McLaren boss Zak Brown says the team will review Oscar Piastri’s “aggressive” pass on team-mate Lando Norris during the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix.
With Norris having led a McLaren one-two in qualifying, the pair held position through the first corner before Piastri appeared to surprise the Brit with an audacious move around the outside into the second 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.
“It was an aggressive move, but I have not spoken to them about that yet,” Brown told Sky Sports F1.
“The start was great and what we had discussed – to fan out – but I think Lando was probably caught by surprise with that move, so it is something we will discuss.
“We will discuss the aggressive pass. It was a bit nerve-racking on the pit wall. It is about respecting your team-mate. They didn’t touch, it was an aggressive pass but a clean pass.”
With Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen struggling to sixth on a poor weekend for Red Bull, Norris failed to maximise a huge opportunity to make major ground in the title race.
Norris’ third place, plus an extra point for the fastest lap of the race, saw him close to within 62 points of Verstappen, but he would have claimed 10 more points had he won with the fastest lap.
McLaren also missed out a one-two finish that would have taken them top of the Constructors’ Championship, instead closing to within eight points of Red Bull.
Brown added: “The No 1 priority is to win both championships.
“They are both young drivers who want to win and we have always believed in having two No 1s. That has always been McLaren’s way and can be difficult to manage. They get along great and race clean.
“The easiest thing would have been Lando to run away with it and not put difficult decisions on the pit wall, but Andrea and I are taking it one race at a time.”
Stella: McLaren will review incident with ‘calm’
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that the team must take a “calm” look back at the way the race played out.
He told Sky Sports F1: “In terms of expectation and the impression of the drivers, and also the overtaking itself, we will have to take a look with some calm, have a review together with them, and then we will assess the situation.
“And if there’s any learning to take from that, we will take it for the future.”
Piastri appeared to be on course for victory until it became clear in the closing stages that Ferrari had pulled off a strategic masterstroke by one-stopping both Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz.
“It’s disappointing in the sense that we had the performance to win the race,” Stella added.
“I think for Leclerc it was a little easier to take a gamble on the one-stop because he was the car following. For us, with Lando, we had a lock-up on the front left which meant the tyre was going, so we went clearly on a two-stopper. With Oscar, it was more marginal, but he had and we had concerns as well, so we went on a two.
“We thought we would have time to recover the lead but Ferrari did a very good job. Leclerc drove very well, so we also have to acknowledge that competitors can do a good job and make, in this case, the one-stop work.”
Rosberg: McLaren philosophy hurting Norris
Sky Sports F1’s Nico Rosberg said the McLaren’s philosophy is “hurting” Norris’ title chances.
“Philosophy is dictated by the very top,” the 2016 world champion said.
“This comes from Zak Brown. We have two No 1 drivers, and we want to let them race because that’s the essence of McLaren, which actually goes back a long time. Andrea now is executing that plan.
“Today they also didn’t think that they were compromising a win until the very end. So they let their drivers race, which was great, and they weren’t really compromising the win until the very end when Ferrari rolled the dice and caught them out.
“It’s just a question of course with Lando with the drivers’ championship, but they seemed to have decided at the moment that they really want to keep going with both No 1 drivers and not give Lando the preference.
“It’s a decision they’re taking, but it’s definitely hurting Lando.
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