They shouldn’t have been near each other. Lando was given the preferential undercut strategy despite being behind on track. Oscar had a slower stop and still almost stayed ahead. If Oscar was pitted first like you would hope they don’t end up next to each other at T1.

I totally understand Piastri trying to put himself in front in the situation. F1 is so unfrogiving towards rookies and drivers in general. If Piastri would let Norris pass everytime just because Norris is the #1 driver, many teams would dismiss him as potential #1 driver in the future because “he lacks the fighting spirit”. Given his recent performance there is no doubt he will get a new contract somewhere even if he were to fall out with McLaren. So he only stands to lose by staying too passive.

If McLaren followed their own philosphy of “The Team above all” they would have pitted Piastri first. There was no reason to pit Norris first. They didn’t have to protect against an undercut from someone else. And if Norris actually were faster and held up by Piastri the undercut would have worked.