McLaren told Piastri to hand the position back to Norris and then said the pair were free to fight it out
Oscar Piastri insisted it was fair for him to be asked to swap positions with Lando Norris towards the end of the Italian Grand Prix
Norris had gained a six-second lead over his team-mate at the Hungaroring due to a better pitstop strategy
Oscar Piastri insisted it was fair for him to be asked to swap positions with Lando Norris towards the end of the Italian Grand Prix due to the Briton's slow pit stop.
McLaren ordered Piastri, running in third on lap 45, to come into the pits before Norris, with the Australian enjoying a clean stop that came, but the same could not be said for his team-mate.
When Norris entered the pits a lap later, a fault with a wheel gun delayed him, allowing Piastri to undercut him and take second place with seven laps remaining.
McLaren told Piastri to hand the position back to Norris and then said the pair were free to fight it out, with the Briton holding on to close the gap in the Drivers' Championship.
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It is not the first time the British team have been involved in a similar situation, having also swapped positions, this time in Piastri's favour, in Hungary last year.
Norris had gained a six-second lead over his team-mate at the Hungaroring due to a better pitstop strategy, but he respected the team's wishes and handed Piastri his maiden victory in the competition.
"It's something we'll discuss for sure," Piastri told Sky Sports.
"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 but the whole team. I think today the decision to swap back was fair.
"Lando was ahead of me the whole race so I don't have any issues with that. But we'll definitely discuss it."
Norris, who had taken the lead in the race before being overtaken by race winner Max Verstappen, insisted he would have done the same and rejected any theories of favouritism in the team.
"We're not idiots and we have plans for different things", said Norris. "If there were four cars in between me and Oscar, of course he's not going to let me back past, and I don't think it's correct that he let me back past.
"But in a situation where we weren't racing, in a situation where we can just be fair, then you'd expect to be fair, as a team."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed the reasoning behind the call.
He told Sky Sports: "It was a call because we'd not only had the problem at the pit lane but we also sequenced the cars' pit stops in a way where we definitely wanted to retain the position after the pit stop, but somehow the position changed.
"So we felt the right thing to do was to go back to the original position and let them race.
"I want to thank Oscar because he didn’t make it difficult at all. Once again, Oscar and Lando showed the principles and values we have going racing.”
Norris has trimmed Piastri's lead to 31 points in the world championship, but the latter was unconcerned about how the weekend had gone, despite a surprise lack of pace in comparison to Verstappen's Red Bull at the front.
He said: "Happy isn't the word but I'm not overly disappointed. It's clear today as a team we didn't have the pace to match Max.
"There was nothing revolutionary from this weekend that I learnt. Qualifying further ahead helps you out and I think I know what I like and don’t like from the car."
There is now a two-week break in the Formula One schedule before the paddock arrives in Baku towards the end of the month.
