This position change led McLaren to instruct Piastri to let Norris pass. A radio message referenced the Hungarian Grand Prix from the previous year, where a similar situation occurred, and the team confirmed the two drivers would then be free to race. Norris ultimately finished second, with Piastri in third.
Post-race, Stella explained the team’s actions. “Let me start by saying that the decision we made today doesn’t have [anything] to do with what happened in the Netherlands – it’s completely independent of the DNF that the team caused for Lando,” Stella told F1 TV. “This is a completely separate situation and we take one race at a time.”
Stella clarified the team’s intent during the pit sequence. “Today, when we started the pit stop sequencing, we started the sequencing pitting Oscar first but with the clear intent that we would have not swapped the positions.” He noted that the slow pit stop for Norris was the reason for the team’s intervention.
“Because we had the sequence with Oscar first and then the slow pit stop, we thought that the fair thing to do was to go back to the positions that we had before the pit stops,” Stella said. He expressed confidence in Piastri’s understanding of the situation. “I’m sure Oscar will be very comfortable with this; he already was comfortable during the race.”
When asked about the radio call that brought up the Hungarian Grand Prix, Stella suggested it was not a primary reference point. “After Hungary we had so many conversations, so much alignment with each other as to how we go racing, so I don’t think we need to go so far back,” he stated, concluding that the team was simply following its established approach.