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Norris disappointed by McLaren team-mate Piastri in Monza
Written by Sports Desk. Posted in Formula One. | 01 September 2024 | 299 Views
Tags: Motorsport

Lando Norris was left disappointed by Oscar Piastri's driving after the McLaren duo almost collided at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Norris claimed pole position once more in Monza but was overtaken on the first lap by Piastri, snatching the inside line at Turn 4.

The McLaren pair subsequently finished behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, though Piastri's racing tactics were questioned by Norris after the conclusion on Sky Sports.

"I feel he got way too close for comfort," Norris said. "We could both have easily been out in that first corner if I broke one metre later.

"If I could rewind, I would do stuff slightly differently. But it is what it is. Charles won by two seconds in the end and the fact he got ahead probably gained him two seconds over the course of the race.

"We couldn't achieve a one-stop as our degradation was too high on the front tyres. That is a weakness for us at the minute."

Having failed to close the gap on Leclerc, Piastri finished second and a place ahead of Norris, with the trio sitting together at the post-race drivers' press conference.

When pressed on his earlier criticism of Piastri, Norris attempted to explain his warning, though conceded the difficulties in making split-second decisions.

"Just brake a bit later, simple as that. But sometimes it's easier said than done," Norris said.

"Oscar obviously braked on the limit and gave me space, there was just about enough. I did my best to avoid anything else happening at the time.

"At the same time, If I brake two metres later, you don't know and you can't predict, but it could easily have been a crash. It's a tough one. The easiest thing is just to brake way later and force him off, and kind of treat it like no one else.

"I obviously took it easy. I saw we had a massive gap behind, so maybe I was just a bit too much on the cautious side and paid the price."

Australia's Piastri, however, saw the incident somewhat differently.

"I broke later and got around the outside," Piastri said. "There wasn't really much more to it than that.

"We both got through it unscathed. I knew once I hit the brakes I kind of got ahead a bit and knew I was entitled to stay on the outside.

"For 38 laps, it put me in a race-winning position. So it was just a good first lap."

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