McLaren clarify team order 'review' after controversial swap

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has suggested his squad will not need to alter its approach despite stating it would “review” the team order call at the Italian Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri was instructed to hand second place back to Lando Norris after the latter suffered a slow pit stop.

Norris was running ahead of Piastri for the entirety of the race up to that point, but the order caused a divide as the two drivers are currently embroiled in a title fight.

The team has defended the order, citing fairness and equality between its two competitors.

After Stella mentioned the team would “review” its principles going forward, the Italian was further pressed on the subject.

“Reviewing is the foundation of pursuing excellence,” Stella responded to the media, including RacingNews365.

“If you think that whatever you do is good and you are not going to have an individual or a team review of anything you do, even the thing you do perfectly, you simply are not going to progress.”

Piastri currently leads Norris by 31 points in the drivers' championship, having stretched out a large gap following the latter's non-finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

As the season enters its final third, the battle is likely to increase in intensity, leaving Stella to ensure the squad is always on top of its operations.

“So for me reviewing, it doesn’t mean like, ‘Oh, certainly we will have to change it',” he said.

“Potentially, we will review them, and we will further align on them, and we will confirm them. So the fact that I use this word doesn’t mean that there will be changes.

“The fact that I use this word means that that’s how we approach things at McLaren, and this review, which is so essential in engineering, in operation, does apply as well in the way you go racing and does apply in the way you go racing with your drivers.”