Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes McLaren “prefers” Lando Norris to win the F1 world championship over Oscar Piastri after the pit-stop controversy at the end of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Piastri and Norris are embroiled in an intra-team title battle this year as both drivers eye their first world title. In Monza, a slow pit-stop for Norris, originally in second place ahead of Piastri, meant he re-entered the race behind the Australian with a handful of laps remaining.
Yet under instruction from the McLaren pit-wall, Piastri gave up second place to Norris, ceding a six-point swing in the title race, despite initial protestations. Piastri’s lead is now 31 points with eight races remaining this season.
Ecclestone, who controlled F1 for 40 years before selling to American owners Liberty Media in 2017, was unimpressed with McLaren’s handling of the situation.
The 94-year-old told Swiss outlet Blick: "They keep talking about fairness, but is it fair for Piastri to be penalised for a team mistake? No.
"You are starting to get the feeling that McLaren prefers a world champion named Lando Norris.
“Mistakes like missed pit stops, engine failures, and suspension failures may have become less common, but they are part of the sport."
At the race before, in Zandvoort, a late mechanical failure cost Norris 18 points in the title race, handing the firm advantage to Piastri.
Nico Rosberg, the 2016 world champion, believes McLaren were put in an “impossible” situation given the slow stop.
"A lot of people will not like it, a lot of people will think it makes sense," he told Sky’s F1 show podcast. "I was happy they did that because with my hat that I have on, I want a super-exciting Formula 1 championship until the very end.
"So, I was happy that in that case Lando had the opportunity to get the deserved points since he personally did a better job than Oscar in the Monza weekend.
"So, I thought it was good that they did that. But it's impossible. There's no right or wrong.”
F1 returns next week with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku (19-21 September).
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