Oscar Piastri declares McLaren freedom to 'control F1 destiny'

Oscar Piastri has declared that both he and Lando Norris "have enough freedom to control our destiny" after the team orders saga at Monza.

Piastri was told to cede position to Norris during the Italian GP after a slow pit-stop for Norris, who was leading the sister car, with Piastri having stopped before to protect from Charles Leclerc behind. 

The result was Piastri's points lead being trimmed by three points to 31 by Norris for their second and third place finishes behind Max Verstappen, with the Australian firm stating that he had made the right decision when questioned in the aftermath of Monza.

In the intervening two weeks between Monza and Baku, much has been written about McLaren's imposition of team orders, with Piastri sure that the pit-wall is not going to intervene to decide the fate of the drivers' championship.

"Yes, I do," Piastri told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he felt he still had freedom in the title fight. 

"I think my biggest takeaway from Monza was that on pace and my own performance that weekend, I didn’t deserve to finish higher than third — regardless of what else happened in the race. 

"The decision that we made as a team — there’s no right answer to that decision. If we had done the opposite, then you’d have the opposite half of the fans saying that was wrong, and vice versa. So ultimately, there’s no correct decision in that. 

"Am I surprised [at fan and pundit reaction?], not really. Obviously, it was a big moment from the race, and I feel like a lot of fans are quite quick to jump on things that are deemed controversial. 

"So, I’m not that surprised. But I do think we have enough freedom to control our own destiny in the championship.

"I’d still stand by [letting Norris through], and that is kind of a decision we’ve made — that a slow pit stop is part of racing. 

"Obviously, in the car at the time, the context wasn’t there about what else had happened in terms of the pit stop sequencing. 

"So, again, it was decided that there was another factor for the reasoning in swapping. So again, every situation is going to look a bit different."