Lando Norris has challenged McLaren to make him their undisputed number one driver to propel him to Formula One championship glory – after he criticised team-mate Oscar Piastri’s “way too close for comfort” driving at Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc rolled the strategy dice to take a famous victory on Ferrari’s home turf in Monza, leaving Piastri – who led for the majority of 53 frantic laps – second and pole-sitter Norris a disappointing third.
Max Verstappen started seventh and improved just one place to allow Norris to reduce the title deficit from 70 points to 62 with eight rounds and 224 points still to play for.
Make it another podium visit, @LandoNorris! 👏
P3 in Monza! 🏆#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/urbpGXfz9T
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 1, 2024
But following a desperate weekend for Red Bull – with Verstappen describing his car as “a monster” – Norris believes the time has come for McLaren to deliver their unwavering support.
“I would love it,” said Norris, who is 44 points ahead of Piastri. “But it is not up to me. It is up to the team.
“I don’t want to beg to be allowed past. A driver doesn’t want things to be played that way. And although I wouldn’t say we are running out of time, time is slipping away. I still believe I can do it.
“We had close to the best car today. We are helping each other and that has showed this year, but when you are fighting for the championship you want everything and I am doing all I can.
“The best way is to win a race and I didn’t do that today because of some silly things.”
![McLaren driver Lando Norris (right) talks to team-mate Oscar Piastri](http://content.assets.pressassociation.io/AP/2024/08/31/005db8d9a96c410d806412588daf4340.jpg?w=640)
Piastri was asked for his response, but elected not to reply. Both drivers have been free to race, but with McLaren sensing their first drivers’ title since Lewis Hamilton triumphed in 2008, team principal Andrea Stella indicated he could answer Norris’ wishes.
“We have to acknowledge that we are in a position to challenge for both the constructors’ and drivers’ championship,” he said. “And we have to put the team and Lando in a position to pursue both championships.”
Norris delivered an emphatic win last time out in the Netherlands, but he will view Sunday’s race at the Temple of Speed as another missed opportunity.
He has never led a lap after starting from pole – and his miserable streak extended to five attempts here.
Norris’ initial getaway was good, moving over to his right to defend the inside line from Piastri on the 200mph drag to the Variante del Rettifilo.
But his work unravelled when a scrappy exit from the opening chicane afforded Piastri a tow on the exit of the Curva Grande.
A moment for Charles with the Tifosi 🫶#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/XHfbHABnBx
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 1, 2024
Norris was exposed and Piastri did not need a second invitation to plant his McLaren around the outside of his team-mate at the ensuing Variante della Roggia.
Norris might have been braver on the brakes and the Bristolian then lost out to Leclerc at the first Lesmo dropping him to third after half-a-dozen turns.
But commenting on the opening lap, Norris said: “We had a big gap behind (to Leclerc) and it got way too close for comfort.
“We could easily have crashed, had I braked one metre later. And if I could rewind I would do it differently. Maybe I was too much on the cautious side and I paid the price.”
Piastri said: “I broke later, got round the outside and there wasn’t much more to it than that. We both got through unscathed and it put me in a race-winning position.”
Papaya family. 🧡#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/7nHN2jl6av
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 1, 2024
However, Ferrari had other ideas. In contrast to their rivals, the Scuderia were attempting a one-stop strategy and their brazen idea suddenly dawned on McLaren.
“Just drive f****** fast,” Norris was told by his race engineer, Will Joseph. Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz was swatted aside, first by Piastri on lap 45 and then Norris on lap 48.
But Leclerc was nearly 12 seconds up the road.
The tifosi cheered wildly as the lap counter ticked down and despite being on 38-lap-old rubber, Leclerc nursed his Ferrari to the end to claim a fine win, 2.6 seconds clear of Piastri.
The Monegasque, who also won here for Ferrari five years ago, said: “It is an incredible feeling. I didn’t think the second time would be so special. But my God, the emotions were the same as in 2019.
“It was difficult to keep my eyes on the track during the last few laps because I could see that everyone was standing up.
“In 2019, my mother (Pascale) was in the grandstand because I could not get her a paddock pass. But this year she was in the paddock!
“I saw the red smoke but I knew I had to finish the job. Monaco and Monza are the two races I wanted to win and I have managed to win them both this year. It is so special. The tifosi were incredible. Mama Mia.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here