Though unwilling to share details, Oscar Piastri admits that the Monza team orders controversy has been discussed in depth within the team.

Of course, those discussions haven't been limited to the team, with social media awash with accusations and conspiracy theories from the moment the Australian got the call to yield his position to his teammate.

Though both drivers were keen to play the situation in the moments after the race, it is understandable that with a championship title at stake the matter was firmly debated behind closed doors.

"Naturally there's been thoughts, yes," the Australian told reporters in Baku, when asked about his own feelings. "We've had good discussions with the team.

"Obviously it was a highly talked about moment," he continued in a masterpiece of understatement, "but we've had a lot of discussions, clarified a lot of things, and we know how we're going to go racing going forward, which is the most important thing. So what's happened is done, and I'm excited to get racing here."

Asked to expand on those discussions, he insisted: "No, I can't get into every scenario, no.

"I think from Monza there was another factor outside of the slow pit-stop," he continued, "being the order we pitted in, that was a contributing factor to why we swapped.

"So, that one I'm quite happy to talk about because it's happened. But any other scenarios, again, you can't plan for every single scenario that's going to happen.

"But I think we're very aligned and ultimately I respect the team's decisions and trust that they'll certainly do their best to make the right ones."

And if it happens again...

"I think in exactly the same scenario, then yes, I would expect it to be the same," he admitted. "But I think the likelihood that you're going to have the exact same scenario is virtually impossible. So every scenario is going to look different.

"There was, again, another factor that was ultimately deemed to be the reason for the swap. And I respect that decision. So it's impossible to know. But if the situation was the same, exactly the same, then I expect it to be repeated, yes."

Asked about his initial response, when he argued that botched pit stops are part and parcel of racing, he said: "I do still stand by it, and that is kind of a decision we've made, that a slow pit stop is a part of racing.

"Obviously, in the car at the time, the context wasn't there about kind of 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."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 1 hour ago

"@Ricardo-sanchez Now you're putting the cart before the horse! Piastri is, IMO, taking the only action realistically open to him. The fix is in the past and he can't change it. Concentrate on the next races and see where that leads....."

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2. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 3 hours ago

"@kenji - On the balance of probabilities, Norris would have finished second had the team not changed the pit stop order and then made an error. Not correcting that error would itself have been the team altering the race result. The distinction is clear, and Piastri himself is quoted saying he agrees it was fair to restore the order. He even explains it in straightforward terms.

What you’re really saying is that you don’t like team orders. But that’s a different argument entirely."

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3. Posted by kenji, 7 hours ago

"@Ricardo-sanchez....on the balance of probabilities Piastri would've finished the race in second place if the team had not intervened with team orders. That is the team altering the race result. It's very simple to understand."

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4. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 15 hours ago

"What’s striking here is that Piastri makes the very distinctions some of us have been highlighting since this furore started. His in-race frustration was without context, but once he had the full picture he accepted the fairness and says he’d expect the same outcome again in the same circumstances. That directly contradicts the allegations of “race fixing” or manipulation. As Piastri himself says, you can’t script every scenario in advance; you apply principles fairly when they arise, and McLaren did just that.

Of course, some will now claim he’s only saying what he’s told, but that doesn’t stack up either. He didn’t have to mention the pit stop sequencing, or say he’d expect the same again, or admit Norris was faster. Those details show he’s satisfied with the reasoning, not just reading from a script.

The more I hear from Piastri, the more impressed I am by his emotional intelligence and integrity. "

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"There's been lots of discussion," admits Piastri

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