Lando Norris: People like to speak ill of others.

      Lando Norris said he was not surprised by the negative reaction to the team's tactics during the Italian Grand Prix.

      During the race in Monza, due to a delay on Norris's pit stop, Oscar Piastri got ahead of his teammate, but then, at the team's request, returned the position to Lando. Many people did not like this team decision. In particular, former driver David Coulthard called McLaren's actions "manipulating" the results. On Thursday in Baku, Norris responded to the criticism.

      Lando Norris: "I should clear something up. When I was giving interviews after the finish, I didn't know about some things, such as the undercut by Charles Leclerc, which the team took into account when making the decision. The decision wasn't made solely because of the pit stop – it was based on a number of factors.

      But the main thing is that Oscar and I both agreed to the decision and accepted it, as one team. This happened for the first time in a long while, and it wasn't just because of my slow pit stop. A combination of several factors led the team to decide to swap our positions. For example, like it was in Hungary last year.

      Of course, the team tries to keep the fight between us fair, but they rarely have to intervene and help one of us.

      That's the modern world – all people want to do is be negative and speak ill of others. So that reaction to our decision doesn't surprise me. The press needs flashy headlines so people will read them. As I said, that reaction didn't surprise me at all.

      It didn't affect the team at all, because that reaction was expected. There is more negativity than positivity in our world. We will continue to act as we see fit, regardless of whether people like it or not. It's not our problem, and we're not particularly concerned about it. The main thing is that we're happy with everything. We're focused on our own interests."