Outside Line: Norris forgot that teammates are enemy number one

This expectation was based on McLaren's pace exposed in qualifying, where Norris was a tenth quicker than anyone else, teammate Oscar Piastri included, and also their daunting race pace during practice.

Before I proceed, it's important to provide the following context: the issue of teammates. Rule number one in motor racing - Formula 1 included - is: to win, you have to beat your teammate. It’s better to destroy them (on track, of course) because your teammate is enemy number one.

There should be no friendship, no compassion. No playing egg-and-spoon for your PR flunkies. There should be pure disdain and a conviction that you, as a driver, are better than your teammate, whether in karting, Formula 1, or anything in between.

I'll cite an example from my brief experience as a racing dad with my son karting in Dubai. The beautiful thing about karting, and racing in general, is that you do a lot of travelling, a lot of talking, and you really get to know your son, and he gets to know you. You remember the songs you played on the way to various tracks. You remember the tracks themselves, the incidents, and you talk about them.

That’s the beauty of racing: it’s a solo sport, but you need a massive support network behind you, starting with your parents - your father, who’s probably the one who got you into karting in the first place and breaks the bank to live the dream.

Our chats were always about how you have to beat your teammates. I always tried to be aware of where his teammates were, and as long as my kid finished ahead of them, I was happy.

If he didn’t, well, then 'they' were cheating, or they had a special exhaust or trick bearings, or funny fuel - silly racing dad mind games - because in the end, you don’t want the other guy to win. You don’t want anyone in front of your boy, least of all a teammate! You don't want him to win any race, or, worst of all, to become Champion.

As mentioned, this is the context for analyzing what happened with McLaren at Monza on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix. and why Piastri did no wrong, excelled in fact as he caught not only Norris napping but his team as well.

Piastri, the immensely talented racer that he is, executed one of the finest moves into the second Variante to ambush his teammate on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday. It was one of the best overtakes I’ve witnessed at that corner - or on any track, for that matter - and perhaps the overtake of the year,going around the outside to snatch the lead from Norris, who seemed shocked, fumbled and, by the time the dust had settled, was down from P1 to P3. And that’s where he stayed all day.

After the audacious move that had everyone at Monza, and watching on TV gasping, Piastri scuttled ahead and looked set to win his second Grand Prix. But it was not to be. McLaren fluffed their lines.

Maybe they were so confident, that they focused on their in-house driver shenanigans. Meanwhile, Ferrari blindsided them with fine strategy and a high-end driving display by Charles Leclerc. Winning on their home soil against those odds is incredibly impressive.

Watching 'my boys' turn sure victory into a sad loss, not faulting the drivers at all, as a McLaren fan I must ask: Where were the team orders? There comes a time when team orders must be enforced. That time has come and gone. Norris is their best chance for the F1 Drivers' title. If he gets that, the Constructors' title will come as a bonus.

Norris' form is superb at the moment, was 46 points ahead of Piastri in the championship standings before Monza and just as Red Bull (and Verstappen) start to fumble. So what could have been a one-two finish and a handy haul of points over Max and Red Bull was curtailed because the right calls weren’t made.

The right call would have been for Zak Brown or Andrea Stella - whoever runs the show at that level - to sit the drivers down and say: "Oscar, this is how it works. Lando has paid his dues. When this team was struggling, he stuck with us. He signed long-term when things were bad. At Monza in 2021, Daniel Ricciardo won the race, but it should have been Lando, because we told him to hold back.

"This is his year. It’s our year. Let’s go win both championships. So, Oscar, I’m expecting you to help. We took you away from the Alpine sh!tshow. We’ve turned you into a star. Now there’s some payback, so please don’t trip each other up. Work together, and let’s get Lando the maximum points. When your turn comes, we’ll play the game with you too." The kind of thing one expects would be said by a team boss.

That’s a command that Piastri would have to adhere to because it would have been disrespectful and a slap in the face to the team otherwise. He is too smart for that.

But at Monza, on race day, the young Australian made his intent clear: he is here to win races, even if it means denying his teammate a shot at this year’s drivers’ title. Which as explained, is exactly what a racing driver should do (especially the great ones, I might add). If there’s a gap, you go for it - unless you’re told: "This one’s for the team." Then, you’re expected to play ball. That’s how it works.

That is why I don’t believe those talks were had and orders given. Instead, McLaren engaged what they called "Papaya rules," which is a slippery slope if you think about it. It states that if their drivers don’t bend metal, they can race. Equal number one status. Not smart! History shows, be it Senna-Prost, Hamilton-Alonso, Hamilton-Rosberg, it never ever works.

Furthermore, in this era of wide, long cars that are hard to overtake, when one does overtake, the one being overtaken invariably loses time. As we saw on the opening lap at Monza, Lando’s P1 suddenly became P3 because of this.

It’s just the way it is, especially at a track like that, where overtaking is done on the brakes and into a right-left, super-tight chicane. The ideal line hardly fits one car; there’s no way two can get by without some argy bargy. One guy is going to trip up and lose time.

We saw it happen, despite Norris’s great start. Had there been a proper plan in place to benefit the team rather than the "Papaya rules" of engagement, the Aussie would have stuck behind Norris. Thereafter the pair of them would have simply scuttled away into the distance, winning the Grand Prix one-two with ease.

Verstappen wouldn’t have finished any better than he did, nor would Sergio Perez, and it would have been a much bigger points hit and a more substantial impact on both F1 world championship standings.

Instead, McLaren went home without a win and exposed that, when it comes to putting the team first- those nearly 1,000 people behind the scenes who built the amazing McLaren MCL38 - and going for the safe and sure win, Brown & Co. unwisely allowed their drivers to race.

They actually needed to work together to orchestrate what would've been a memorable win on Ferrari soil and continue in their quest, namely win the titles this year and with it deliver the greatest turnaround of an F1 title fight in history.

But no, at Monza, McLaren shot themselves in the foot as they threw away ten extra points they could’ve scored over Red Bull in the 2024 F1 Constructors' standings. Norris would’ve been nine points richer had his team seriously backed him, to win in Italy.

The optics for me are that Brown and his men don’t believe in Norris or his title chances this year which is incomprehensible as an F1 student first and a McLaren fan a close second.