Zak Brown insisted that McLaren's papaya rules were made to be bent after Monza reignited the debate over whether team orders are needed at the British-based team. (More Motorsport News)
Oscar Piastri a𝓀nd Lando Norris claimed second and third behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, with the latter enduring another poor start after securing pole in qualifying.
The Australian was able to make his way past his🎃 McLaren team-mate heading into Turn 4, with Piastri ultimately able to ꦏfinish ahead of Norris at the end of the race.
Howeꦺver, McLaren recorded their fourth-best ever run of having one or both drivers on the podium (12), while also closing the gap in the constructors' championship.🎀
The gap to Red Bull now stands at eight points ahead of Baku in 🧸two weeks, with Norris also closing the gap to Max Verstappen to 62 points in the drivers' championshi♎p.
But in allowing their drivers to fight, McLaren🌱 opened the door for Ferrari to pounce, but Brown defended Piastri's move on his team-mate in the opening exchanges.
“It was aggressive, it was an aggressive move [by Piastri],” Brown told Sky Sports F1 𓆏after th💙e race.
“Their start was great and that was what 🐈we had discussed, kind of get behind the other and fan out to make sure nobody else could get by.
“I think Lando was caught by surprise with that move, thinking let’s just tuck into a one-t🐻wo and see if we can pull a bit of a gap, so it’s something we’ll discuss internally.
“Papaya rules are it’s your team mate; race him har⛄d, race him clean, don’t touch, that happened.
"It wa🎶s an aggressive pass so that’s a conversation we’ll have, that was a bit nerve wracking on pit wall but it’s really just res๊pect your team mate.
"Lando got a bad run out of that corner as well so it would have been nice to see themꩵ run on🐠e-two a bit longer.
"They didn’t touch, it was an aggressive pa🗹🎃ss but a clean pass.”
Despite McLaren's recent s𒊎uccess, Ferrari's triumph at their home race has brought them back into contention for the c♛onstructors' championship and are just 31 points further back.
The British-based team💎 have failed to win the title since 1998 when Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard worked together to deliver their eighth constructors' title.
However, Brown remained firm in his assessment that McLaren would not prioritise one driver over the other f🎀or the remaining eight races of the season.
“They are 𒉰both young drivers who want to win. We have always believed in having two number o🐷nes," Brown said.
"That’s always been McLaren’s way, it can b🎉e difficult to manage – we’ve seen it with Senna and Prost.
“They get along great, they do race each other cleanﷺ and it’s philosophical – are you a one-car team or a two-car team?
"The easiest thing would have been for Lando to just run 🧸away with it, and then not have to put difficult decisions on the pit wall, but Andrea and I are taking it one race at a time.”
