There is only one way Lando Norris can win the world championship. And that is if McLaren help him to do it by making him their No 1 driver.
He cannot do it on his own. That much became even more glaringly clear by the fourth corner of an Italian Grand Prix won unexpectedly by Charles Leclerc to the cheering, flag-waving delirium of the tifosi who flooded the home straight afterwards.
Norris, who finished third, started from pole but weighed down by his failure to convert that advantage into a lead at the end of the first lap on the four previous occasions he had started in charge.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown encouraged him pre-race to sharpen his elbows. He didn’t. Norris’s getaway was fine and he steered right to take the inside into Variante del Rettifilo.
It was all good until his untidy exit from this first chicane allowed his team-mate Oscar Piastri, who started and finished second, to grab a tow into Curve Grande to set himself up for an attack on the entry to the second chicane, Variante della Roggia.
McLaren must give Lando Norris (pictured) priority if he’s to beat Max Verstappen to the F1 world title
Norris came third in Italy after starting on pole, finishing behind winner Charles Leclerc (centre) and team-mate Oscar Piastri (left)
Norris must overturn a 62-point deficit if he is to beat Max Verstappen (pictured) to the title
Piastri was not standing on ceremony. He planted his orange missile on the outside. Was Norris squeamish? Yes. He had the inside and should have taken charge of things. Instead, he braked early and Piastri completed the move on the inside of the latter part of the chicane.
It should be noted Piastri left Norris with more than a car’s width to manoeuvre in. Norris, discombobulated, then lost his way and Leclerc went past to shunt him down into third place.
So, Norris can hardly say he drove brilliantly at this point. Piastri did. But the question is if the Briton should have been put in this position at all?
Would a team ruthlessly zoning in on the drivers’ title not have instructed them both to get to the end of the first lap running first and second in the order they started?
Another grey area is whether Piastri honoured the commitment both drivers made beforehand, called ‘papaya rules’ — code for racing hard but clean against each other.
‘It was an aggressive pass,’ said Brown. ‘So that’s a conversation we will have.’
Norris was indignant afterwards despite seeing his championship deficit to Max Verstappen, who finished sixth and calling his car a ‘monster’, cut from 70 to 62 points with eight races and three sprints remaining.
Norris and Piastri did not exchange niceties as they waited for the press conference to start. When it did, the Briton offered his view of the contentious incident, saying: ‘We had a big gap behind us and it got way too close for comfort.
Piastri went past his team-mate Norris in what has been described as an ‘aggressive pass’
Norris called for McLaren to make him their focus and their No 1, but that it’s not up to him
‘We could easily have crashed had I braked one metre later. But if I could rewind I would do it differently. Maybe I was too much on the cautious side and I paid the price.’
He called for McLaren to make him their focus, their No 1. ‘I would love it, but it is not up to me,’ he said. ‘A driver doesn’t want things to be played that way. I don’t want to beg to be let through.
‘I wouldn’t say we are running out of time, but time is slowly going 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 because of some silly things.’
Piastri was asked if he wanted to respond over the No 1 issue. He shook his head.
Both men can win the title, but if McLaren thought Norris’s chances were slim then they surely can’t imagine Piastri staging a great escape from a further 44 adrift.
Andrea Stella, team principal but one rank lower in the hierarchy than Brown, indicated afterwards that they would look after Norris’s interests from now on, though he shied away from the phrase ‘No 1’.
‘Lando is the driver in the best position, and we are fighting Verstappen, so if we are going to support one driver then it has to be Lando,’ said the Italian, a pragmatist.
As for the action, Leclerc did superbly to make a one-stop masterstroke by Ferrari work for him. His second stint on hard tyres in blistering heat lasted a marathon 38 laps. Carlos Sainz, in the other Ferrari, was passed by the two-stopping McLarens late on and finished fourth.
The national anthems played, the winner came back for a second appearance on the podium as the fans hollered to him from below. Monza is a special place on days like this. ‘It is an incredible feeling,’ said Leclerc, winner here in 2019, too. ‘I didn’t think the second time would be so special. But my God, the emotions are the same.
McLaren chief Zak Brown indicated afterwards that his team would look after Norris’ interests
‘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 on the last laps, 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. Mamma mia.’