McLaren has a pre-planned strategy for Norris and Piastri to swap positions later in the season if needed
Piastri ceded second place to Norris at the Italian GP after a slow pit stop, sparking a review of McLaren’s protocols
Norris trails Piastri by 31 points in the Drivers’ Championship, while McLaren remain strong contenders for the Constructors’ title at the Azerbaijan GP
Lando Norris has confirmed that he and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri will swap places in the latter stages of the season upon instruction.
McLaren ordered Formula One championship leader Piastri to surrender second position in the Italian Grand Prix to Norris after a slow pit stop meant the Briton relinquished his spot behind Max Verstappen.
The Australian moved over for Norris, who stated that a swap is a real possibility in the latter stages of the season "because that’s what we’ve agreed as a team."
When the incident occurred, Piastri was instructed to let Norris through and replied: "We said a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don't really get what's changed here."
This unconventional situation has prompted McLaren team principal Andrea Stella to conduct a review of their processes.
However, Norris is sure that the team followed the pre-agreed formula for such situations.
"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 things you do perfectly, simply you're not going to progress," he said.
"For me, reviewing doesn't mean like, 'oh, certainly we will have to change it'. 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."
Norris is now 31 points behind Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship.
McLaren are still on track for success and could clinch the Constructors' Championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 21.
