Italian GP: Piastri says McLaren team order with Norris was 'fair' - ESPN

Oscar Piastri downplayed the controversy over McLaren's team orders at the Italian Grand Prix, saying it was «fair» for him to cede position to teammate Lando Norris in the closing stages of the race.

However, both Piastri and team principal Andrea Stella said on Sunday that the situation will be discussed and reviewed ahead of the next round of the championship in Azerbaijan.

Piastri was running in third place behind Norris and Max Verstappen when McLaren made a strategic decision to delay the pit stops of both its cars in the hope of gaining an advantage from a late safety car period.

In order to protect Piastri's podium finish from Charles Leclerc in fourth place, the Australian was called into the pits before Norris — a decision that broke McLaren's convention of giving the preferable strategy to the lead car.

Norris was reassured over team radio that pitting second would not drop him behind Piastri, but when a slow front-left tire change delayed his pit stop, he emerged behind his teammate and title rival.

Piastri was then told to slow and let Norris retake second place before the two drivers were allowed to race to the finish.

The championship leader complied with the order, but radioed the team to say: «We said a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don't really get what changed here — but if you want me to do it, I'll do it.»

Norris finished the race ahead of Piastri, taking three points out of his teammate's championship lead, which now stands at 31 points with eight races remaining.

«It's something that we'll discuss — we have discussed it before,» Piastri said. «I think today was a fair request. Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race and lost that spot through no fault of his own.

»I said what I had to