Piastri Says Team Orders Clarified At Mclaren

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Oscar Piastri yesterday said McLaren had“clarified a lot of things” about team orders following the decision to ask him to give up second place to team-mate and title rival Lando Norris at the Italian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old series leader, who is seeking to become Australia's first world champion since Alan Jones in 1980, had challenged the team's decision during the Monza race.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he said there had been“good discussions” and the team were now“very aligned” on how to progress in the remaining eight races this year.
“Obviously it's a highly talked-about moment, but we've had a lot of discussions and clarified a lot of things,” he said.“We know how we're going to go racing going forwards, which is the most important thing.”
He refused to go into details or reveal what the team had discussed in particular.
“A lot that is to stay for us because, ultimately, if we give out that information then we become very easy targets to pick off because everyone knows what we're going to do,” he said.
“That's all very aligned with all of us, but it stays in-house.”
He added:“The biggest thing for me, from Monza, was it was a weekend where I deserved to finish third. I didn't deserve to finish second because of the pace I had.
“I was quick at certain points, but not quick enough the whole weekend and that's my main takeaway from that, what I'm trying to focus on going forwards.”
“There was another factor, outside the slow pit stop, at Monza,” added Piastri.“The order we pitted in. It was a contributing factor to why we swapped.
“That one, I am happy to talk about because it has happened. We can't plan for every scenario, but we are very aligned and I respect the team's decisions and I trust they will do their best to make the right one.”
Norris said that it was not his or McLaren's concern if outside viewers were upset by the team orders debate.“It's not our problem,” he said in Baku.
This weekend the McLaren duo will be fighting for championship points individually, but aware of the need to avoid any scrapes as they are within reach of clinching the team's second consecutive constructors' world title.
Piastri leads Norris, 25, by 31 points with eight races to go while McLaren head Ferrari by 337 points. McLaren need to outscore Ferrari by at least nine points to wrap up the teams' crown with seven races to spare, while not being outscored heavily by Mercedes or Red Bull.
It they succeed, it will be the earliest the title has been confirmed in a season.
Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton said his hopes of a first win for Ferrari this season looked“far-fetched” but he still hoped to stand on the podium at some point in the final eight races. The seven-times Formula One world champion has yet to finish in the top three in his first campaign with the Italian team since leaving Mercedes at the end of last year.
The 40-year-old's 105th and last race win was in Belgium in July, 2024, while Ferrari have yet to win since Carlos Sainz, Hamilton's predecessor, took the chequered flag in Mexico City last October.
“A win is a bit far-fetched considering I've been sixth, seventh and eighth for most of the season,” the sport's most successful driver told reporters on Thursday ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.“I would love to get a podium for the team at some stage. Charles (Leclerc) has had four or five of them, so I feel optimistic coming into the weekend.”
Hamilton is one of only three drivers still on the Formula One grid to have won at Baku's City Circuit, triumphing with Mercedes in 2018, and Ferrari have gone well there in the past.
McLaren's current championship leader Oscar Piastri won last year with Leclerc starting on pole for the fourth successive season.
Hamilton has stood on the podium in every year of his record-breaking career that started with McLaren in 2007 but suffered his first year without a win in 2022 and had another blank in 2023.
The Briton said he had“found a couple of things” after Ferrari's home race at Monza on September 7 and now needed to work on them.
“I really hope that this weekend can be the start of that,” he said.
In a separate interview with French newspaper L'Equipe published this week, Hamilton said he had no plans to stop any time soon and was grateful that double world champion Fernando Alonso was still competing with Aston Martin the age of 44.

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