“I planned to do it from Brazil”

While he was going to cross the finish line of the sprint race in the lead, Lando Norris finally let Oscar Piastri pass in the last meters of the event, leaving the victory to the Australian as if to redeem himself from the success offered by his teammate during the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint.

In a post-race interview, Norris revealed that he had planned to return the favor to Piastri from São Paulo: “I was planning to do it from Brazil. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me. I’m not here to win sprint races, I’m here to win races and a championship, but it didn’t happen as expected [le titre pilotes ayant été décerné à Max Verstappen, ndlr.].”

Piastri, for his part, revealed that he had been “a little surprised” by the offering of his teammate, especially since George Russell, only a few tenths behind in third position, was ready to seize the slightest opportunity that might have presented itself.

“I was aware that this could happen,” admitted the Australian. “I was aware that this was a possibility, so it wasn’t completely unexpected, [mais] maybe a little given the circumstances of the race… It just shows our teamwork and the absence of ego within the team.”

While we thought this maneuver was decided at the last second by Norris, the Briton had indeed warned his team on the radio. A message to which McLaren responded in the negative, declaring that it wanted “finish the race in this order” (Norris first and Piastri second), preferring to secure the result rather than taking the risk of changing position, especially given the minimal gap with third.

Although his driver did not respect the team’s decision, Andrea Stella, the director of McLaren, is rather proud of this gesture which testifies to the good understanding that reigns among the papaya oranges.

“Lando was very eager to return the favor Oscar had done him in Brazil.”the Italian boss told Sky Sports. “We actually wanted to take the pressure off by saying on the radio that we were happy to finish in that order, but Lando managed to find the opportunity to return the favor, and once again it shows collaboration, l “The unity, the cohesion that we have at McLaren is a strength and it is the basis for continuing to stay in this quest for the championship.”

“We were nervous on the pit wall, because Russell was very close. But I think the drivers, when they are in the car, sometimes judge the situation more accurately than we do on the pit wall. Personally, I’m very happy that we had the opportunity to give Oscar the victory he deserved in Brazil. And as I said before, it’s cohesion, it’s unity. I am very proud of Lando and of Oscar.”

Indeed, in the end, everything went well for McLaren: the exchange of positions was done without problem, the team scored the maximum possible points and the pace displayed by Norris is encouraging for the rest of the week -end.

“We scored a double, that’s what we wanted today”added Norris. “We got maximum points, so we’re happy. We’re happy as a team, we executed things perfectly, and I think the pace was good.”

In addition to the end-of-race maneuver, McLaren really played the team game this Saturday. Piastri was in a little more difficulty compared to his teammate during the event, not helped by Russell’s incessant attacks behind. The papaya orange team therefore asked Norris to slow down in order to keep the Australian in his DRS zone to allow him to better defend against the Mercedes driver.

“I probably could have attacked a little more than I did, but we wanted to keep the others behind”Norris said. “I tried to help and not let George get too close. So we did our job, and that’s the main thing.”