Norris not proud of Brazil F1 sprint race victory after team orders

Lando Norris says he cannot be proud of his win in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race after he was handed it on a plate by his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Piastri, who had taken pole, looked in command and nailed-on to take a routine win in Sao Paulo. However, in a reversal of the team instructions earlier in the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren asked Piastri to swap positions with Norris to boost the latter’s chances in the drivers’ championship.

The order came with just a few laps remaining amid the looming threat of a safety car to recover Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Haas, with Piastri pulling over to allow Norris to take the chequered flag.

Norris’ win cuts Max Verstappen’s lead in the championship to 45 points while Piastri was second, to claim a McLaren 1-2.

“We’re fighting for a constructors’ Norris not proud of Brazil F1 sprint race victory after team orders and we’re fighting for our drivers’ [championships],” said Norris. “We want to help the whole team achieve both of these goals.

“Obviously, from a driver’s point of view, it puts us in a slightly different position.

“I’m not proud to win a race like I did today. It’s not how I want to – I’m not proud of it, basically. So I will work hard to go and do a better job in qualifying later and put myself in a better position for the race.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“We want to avoid it as much as we can. But at the same time we sign up for this.

“We have to work together as a team. We get told what to do. We have a boss, and we do the best we can to help each other out.”

Piastri delayed the chance to switch positions for as long as possible as he reluctantly obeyed the team orders, now known as “papaya rules” after the controversial switch at the Hungaroring.

The 23-year-old was quizzed about giving up a victory and added: “It’s not as fun as winning but I know the position that we’re in.

“We’ve been talking about this for months now, and this is really the first time that we’ve had to enforce it [team orders].

“So yes, I would have preferred to have won but again, it’s a sprint race. It’s the same points for the team. And being realistic, I don’t have much to fight for in the drivers’ standing so, we knew this is something that could and probably would happen at some point. But, yeah, I was fine with it.”

Norris was asked about the time it took for Piastri to swap places and said he understood why the Aussie left it so long to do so.

He added: “We spoke through many different scenarios. It was tough to do it much earlier because the guys behind were pretty close.

“I think there was one lap, but it’s always hard to suddenly plan that and execute it well.

“We did the best job we could. We want both cars up there, and, of course, the safety car put out a little bit of threat. There’s always those risks, so we plan for it, and we secured it.”