Italian GP: Lando Norris says Oscar Piastri was ‘too close for comfort’

MONZA, Italy – Lando Norris said McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri risked a collision with his “too close for comfort” move for the lead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Norris led away from pole position into Turn One but appeared to be caught out by Piastri’s aggressive move at the Roggia chicane.

The move put Norris on the back foot and meant he dropped behind the Ferrari of eventual race winner Charles Leclerc.

When asked if he’d been surprised by the move, Norris said: “A little bit. Obviously I would have just braked a bit later if I’d needed to.

“I feel like he got way too close for comfort, we both easily could have been out in that corner if I’d braked one metre later. Obviously if I could rewind I would do stuff slightly differently but … It is what it is, Oscar drove a good race and so did Charles, so…”

The Piastri move had a key baring on the race. Norris, the McLaren driver closest to championship leader Max Verstappen in the title race, never looked like winning without the help of a safety car or team orders after that point.

After qualifying team boss Andrea Stella had said he would enforce “papaya rules” — a reference to McLaren’s shade of orange — between its drivers, which was explained to be the ability to race but with the proviso they must do so cleanly and without risk.

Speaking 24 hours later Stella said the team would see whether Piastri’s move complied with what had been agreed ahead of the race.

“We will have to review together with the drivers, with the videos,” Stella said on Sunday evening. “Understand their point of view and then we will assess together whether they were fully compliant or not. We will take the learning, if there is any learning they need to take, and then we will apply the papaya rules such that they allow us to pursue in the best possible manner both the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship.

“We have to now be in the condition to acknowledge that not only the constructors’ championship is possible but even from the driver’s point of view, with the performance that we have in the car and some of the struggle we see with Red Bull, it is definitely possible.”