Piastri calls McLaren team order ‘fair’ after Monza swap with Norriscalls McLaren team order ‘fair’ after Monza swap with Norris

Oscar Piastri downplayed the late-race Formula 1 team orders

Oscar Piastri downplayed the late-race Formula 1 team orders that saw him cede second place to McLaren teammate Lando Norris at the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, calling the decision “fair” given how the pit stops unfolded at the famed Monza circuit. Both Piastri and team principal Andrea Stella said the situation will be reviewed before the next round in Azerbaijan to ensure McLaren’s team orders policy and race strategy remain consistent.

McLaren’s pit stop strategy at Monza

Running third behind Max Verstappen and Norris, McLaren delayed both drivers’ pit stops in hopes of capitalizing on a late safety car in a strategic gamble. To cover Charles Leclerc in fourth and mitigate the undercut threat from Ferrari, the team called Piastri in first — a departure from its usual practice of favoring the lead car — while reassuring Norris that stopping second would not cost him track position. A slow front-left tire change for Norris during the Monza pit stop did exactly that, dropping him behind Piastri.

Team orders and radio exchange

McLaren then instructed Piastri to slow and return the position to Norris before allowing both cars to race to the flag. The championship leader complied but questioned the call over team radio to the McLaren F1 pit wall: "We said a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don't really get what changed here -- but if you want me to do it, I'll do it."

Norris finished ahead of Piastri to trim his teammate’s Formula 1 drivers’ championship lead to 31 points with eight races remaining in the season.

Piastri’s perspective on the decision

"It's something that we'll discuss -- we have discussed it before," Piastri said. "I think today was a fair request. Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race and lost that spot through no fault of his own. I said what I had to say on the radio. And once I got the second request, then I'm not going to go against the team, I think there's a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and ultimately that's a very important thing going forward."

The scenario echoed last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, when pit sequencing briefly flipped the order between the two drivers before a position swap restored it, highlighting how McLaren team orders and pit stop strategy can influence track position.

Andrea Stella on fairness and consistency

Stella framed Sunday’s decision as a matter of consistency with McLaren’s internal principles after the team’s strategy inadvertently caused the position change, reinforcing the McLaren team orders policy for fairness and transparency.

"I think the pit stop situation is not only a matter of fairness, it's a matter of consistency with our principles," Stella said. "However the championship goes, what's important is the championship runs within the principles and the racing fairness we have at McLaren. And that we have created with our drivers. The situation whereby we swap our drivers is not only related to the pit stop, it's also related to the fact that we wanted to sequence the two cars and stop Oscar first and then Lando. This should not have led to a swap of position. It was just done because we were covering Leclerc, and at the same time we were waiting until the last possible moment to see if there was a red flag or a safety car. So we pursued the team interest to capitalize as much as possible, and in the team interests we had to go first with Oscar and then with Lando. But the clear intent was this is not going to deliver a swap of positions. So the fact that we went first with Oscar, compounded by the slow pit stop with Lando, led to a swap of positions. And we thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation preexisting the pit stop and then let the guys race. This is what we did and this is what we think is compliant with our principles."

Lando Norris on McLaren team orders

Norris said the call made sense in context but stressed future situations could be handled differently depending on the circumstances on track, noting how F1 team orders depend on traffic, safety car timing, and fairness.

"We're not idiots, we have plans for different things," Norris said. "If there were four cars in between me and Oscar, of course he's not going to let me back past. But in a situation where we weren't racing, in a situation where we can just be fair, then you'd expect to be fair as a team. They don't want to be the reason to upset one driver or another through no fault of their own, and today was not my fault. So if I came flat out into my pit box and I hit all my mechanics out the way, I also don't expect to get the position back. But today was out of my control. In the end, I don't want it to win this way, through getting given positions or anything like that. And the same thing with Oscar. But we don't want to lose a win like that either. We do what we think is correct as a team, no matter what you say or what your opinions are, and we stick to doing it our way."

Reviewing McLaren’s team orders policy

Stella said McLaren will revisit its guidelines before the next race to ensure alignment within the garage and clarity around slow pit stops, race strategy, and any future team orders at the Azerbaijan round.

"We will review the case," Stella said. "We will review also the situation whereby it was a slow pit stop in isolation. We already have our principles in relation to that. We will review our principles in relation to that. And reinforce the direction if this is in agreement with our drivers."

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