Lando Norris says Oscar Piastri 'got too close for comfort' after controversial Italian Grand Prix overtake
Lando Norris has criticised Oscar Piastri's decision to overtake him in the early stages of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday
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Lando Norris has criticised Oscar Piastri's decision to overtake him in the early stages of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Australian passed by his team-mate on the first lap of the race, with Piastri going on to secure second while Norris was forced to settle for third. Charles Leclerc finished top of the podium, winning his second Grand Prix of the campaign in the process.
Speaking after the race, Norris hit out at Piastri.
He said his team-mate 'got too close for comfort' and revealed he would 'do things differently' in hindsight.
Lando Norris has criticised Oscar Piastri's decision to overtake him in the early stages of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday
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"I feel he got way too close for comfort," he 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.
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"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."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has also opened up on the incident.
He says the F1 side will review the incident, while also ruing their failure to capitalise after Norris had started the day on pole.
"In terms of expectation and the impression of the drivers, and also the overtaking itself, we will have to take a look with some calm, have a review together with them, and then we will assess the situation," he said.
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"And if there’s any learning to take from that, we will take it for the future."
He continued: "It’s disappointing in the sense that we had the performance to win the race.
"But it was a race that was a very close race between a one and two. Most cars went for the two.
"I think for Leclerc it was a little easier to take a gamble on the one-stop because he was the car following.
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Lando Norris was overtaken by Oscar Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday
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"For us, with Lando, we had a lock-up on the front left which meant the tyre was going, so we went clearly on a two-stopper.
"With Oscar, it was more marginal, but he had and we had concerns as well, so we went on a two.
"We thought we would have time to recover the lead but Ferrari did a very good job.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were beaten by Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix
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"Leclerc drove very well, so we also have to acknowledge that competitors can do a good job and make, in this case, the one-stop work.
"So well done to Ferrari, but a strong weekend for McLaren, overall a very positive weekend."
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