Lando Norris has admitted that Oscar Piastri deserved to win Saturday’s sprint race in Brazil and revealed he takes no pride in his triumph. Piastri led the sprint race only to obey team orders telling him to give his place up for team-mate Norris.
McLaren are desperately trying to help Norris close the gap on Max Verstappen in the World Drivers’ Championship. The 24-year-old found himself 47 points behind Verstappen after the controversial Mexican Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver handed a 20-second penalty.
With Piastri and Norris leading the pack in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race, McLaren saw an opportunity to decrease Verstappen’s lead by a further two points. Piastri was asked to give up first place to allow Norris to win.
“I am not proud of it,” said the Briton. “Oscar deserved it (the win) but we did what we had to do, so I thank him and the team.
“We are fighting for the constructors’ championship, and fighting for the drivers’ championship. And we want to help the team achieve both of those goals.
“From a driver’s point of view, I am not proud to win a race like I did today. We want to avoid it as much as we can.
“But we both signed up for this. We work as a team, we get told to do, we both have a boss, and we work as hard as we can to help each other.”
Although McLaren have tended to treat both drivers equally, Piastri accepts that Norris must take priority due to the Drivers’ Championship race. The Australian says he has little to fight for, while Norris can still win the prize.
However, Piastri says he still would have preferred to win. He said: “It is not as fun as winning but I know the position we are in. We have been talking about this for months and this is the first time we have had to enforce it.
“I would have preferred to have won but it is a sprint race and I don’t have much to fight for in the drivers’ standings. We knew this could, and probably would happen, and I am fine with it.”
Piastri sealed a McLaren one-two finish, with Verstappen finishing third. The Dutchman was asked to see the stewards following an incident under a virtual safety car, though. He already faces a five-place grid penalty in tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
