Ferrari gamble sees Oscar Piastri finish second at Italian Grand Prix as McLaren ponder preferential treatment for Lando Norris

Oscar Piastri’s rollercoaster season looks set for another unexpected turn, with McLaren considering giving teammate Lando Norris preferential treatment after the Aussie came in second at Monza.

Oscar Piastri came second at Monza. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Oscar Piastri’s rollercoaster second season in Formula One may just be about to take an unexpected turn with McLaren considering giving the Australian’s teammate Lando Norris preferential treatment in the remaining races to boost his chances of winning the drivers’ championship.

The hottest young talent on the grid, Piastri drove another brilliant race to finish second at the Italian Grand Prix overnight - beaten only by a wild gamble from Ferrari that paid off big time.

With no realistic hope of catching the super-quick McLarens, Ferrari abandoned the traditional race strategy of making two pit stops at Monza.

And it worked, with Charles Leclerc making just one stop then hanging on to beat the fast-approaching Piastri to the chequered flag with Norris finishing third.

Piastri had dominated the race from the moment he overtook Norris on the first lap and was given the option of going through to the end without a second stop but he opted to come in for an extra set of fresh tyres with 15 laps to go.

McLaren duo Oscar Piastri (L) and Lando Norris sandwiched Charles Leclerc on the podium. Picture: Andrej Isakovic/AFP

“It hurts. It hurts a lot. I did a lot of things right. There were a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. From the position we were in, with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one-stop looked like a very risky call - and in the end it was right,” Piastri said.

“I’m happy with the race and the pace I managed to achieve, just when you finish second, it hurts.”

Asked whether the wrong call was made, the young Aussie admitted it probably was a mistake.

“In hindsight, yes. But everyone’s a legend on Monday or after the race, but today we got it wrong, myself being a big part of that,” he said.

“We had everything to lose and Charles tried something a bit different, as he was going to finish third either way.“

Despite taking an extra stop, Piastri almost caught the leading Ferrari, but lost valuable time behind Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz then Lance Stroll, who chugged home 19th in his Aston Martin.

“I asked basically straight away what pace I needed to do to go and get Charles and the pace I needed was basically what I did for the first few laps,” Piastri said.

“At that point, I was pretty optimistic. But you know, I lost a decent amount of time behind Carlos. You had Stroll driving like it was his first go-kart race. I don’t know what went through his brain when he saw his blue flag. That cost another second.

“I needed that stint to be perfect to win that race and those little things are ultimately what cost us a bit of a chance. It would have been a long shot anyway, but it was certainly not far off from being able to achieve it.”

Oscar Piastri knew he needed the perfect race to win Monza. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

One of Formula One’s rising stars, Piastri has had a phenomenal season, albeit without much luck.

While he won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, he’s also finished second in Monaco, Austria, Belgium and now Italy.

His consistency with Norris has lifted McLaren to within eight points of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship while Piastri is currently fourth in the driver’s title race on 197 points, 106 behind Max Verstappen with eight rounds to go.

Piastri does not have a realistic chance of catching Verstappen this season but Norris does have an outside shot after closing the gap to 62 points, raising the possibility the Australian could be told to let his British teammate past in the remaining races to maximise his points total.

Until now, McLaren’s policy has been to let each of its drivers race each other with no preferences given but team boss Andrea Stella said that might change.

Lando Norris looks set to get preferential treatment from McLaren. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

“So if we are going to achieve both as a team, we need to put the team in contention and Lando in contention to pursue both championships,” Stella said.

“I think both drivers are mathematically in contention but Lando is obviously in the best position from a numbers point of view and we are fighting Max Verstappen.

“So I think if we want to give support to one driver we definitely have to pick the one that is in the best position.

“We will review all these things for the next races and if we come to the conclusion that swapping is the right thing to do, then we will do it.”

Chasing his fourth straight title, Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races this season but hasn’t won any of the last six.

With his teammate Sergio Perez struggling, Verstappen is becoming increasingly frustrated and has all but conceded the constructor’s title to McLaren, while batting to retain his drivers’ lead, describing his Red Bull as a monster.

“The car is undriveable, it’s a massive balance problem that we have, and that is not only over one lap but also the race,” Verstappen said.

“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster.”