Oscar Piastri has refused to criticise McLaren’s decision to swap driver places at the Italian Grand Prix, a dramatic team orders call that reduced his lead in the F1 title race.

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Lando Norris’ second place finish cut McLaren teammate Piastri’s (third) lead at the top of the drivers’ standings to 31 points but he almost ended up falling further behind after a disastrous pit stop in the final few laps looked like costing him second place.

Briton Norris, who was forced out of the race at Zandvoort with a late mechanical problem, was in second when after entering the box he was kept too long due to a fault with a wheel gun, allowing Piastri to overtake.

With Max Verstappen flying up the road and heading to certain victory, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella then ordered a position swap which he told reporters was within “the racing values that we have in mind”.

The decision surprised Verstappen who commented on team radio: “Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?!”

Despite Piastri’s initially protestation, after the race he appeared happy to toe the team line that justice had been done.

But he also alluded to an interesting non-racing justification.

“If you’re in opposite teams, then yes, it’s very obvious that you just take the luck that you get,” he told Sky Sports.

“But when you’re in the same team, it’s the same pit crew, same mechanics — there’s a lot at stake not just for us [the drivers] but for the whole team.

“I think today the decision to swap back was fair. Lando was ahead of me the whole race. I don’t have any issues with that. But we will definitely discuss it.”

Norris, meanwhile, said the incident was “out of his control”.

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“They don’t want to be the reason to upset one driver or another,” Norris said.

“If I come flat out into my box and I hit all my mechanics out of the way, I don’t expect to get the position back, but today was out of my control.”

The Briton also argued that it was wrong to suggest he’d ultimately won from the situation.

While the team order had handed him second place, he pointed out that the team’s mistake had still obliterated what had been a comfortable buffer between him and Piastri, allowing the Australian to race him to the flag.

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“Why should things get defined like that?” he told Sky Sports.

“We were free to race after — in fact he gained from the whole situation — he had DRS, he could fight against me, so I still lost out through it.

“The same thing would’ve happened if it was vice versa. If I was behind before and he had the worse pit stop and ended up behind, I’d have to let him through.

“I earnt my right to be ahead, to have that fairness. None of us wants it to happen like this. I don’t. I don’t choose for these things to happen. I don’t want to have to let him past or have to get let past.

“I don’t choose these things, but we have to do what we think is correct as a team, do things the fair way. That’s how we want to do it.

“As a team we don’t care what others say, what other opinions there are about it. We do it the way want to, the way we think is correct, and that’s what we need to do.”