Piastri had briefly jumped ahead of Norris after a quicker pit stop, only for McLaren to ask him to swap positions a lap later. The move echoed the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Piastri lost the lead after a similar strategic sequence.
Reflecting on the incident, Piastri said the circumstances are different when both drivers are in the same team.
“It’s something we’ll discuss for sure,” he told Sky Sports. “I think when you’re in the same team, like that, I think if you’re in opposite teams, then yes, it’s very obvious that you just take the luck that you get.
“But when in the same team, it’s the same pit crew, same mechanics. There’s a lot at stake for not just us but for the whole team.
“I think today the decision to swap back was fair. Lando was ahead of me the whole race.
“I don’t have any issues with that, but we will definitely discuss it.”
Here’s the McLaren team radio moment 📻🔊#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/IwU1ozOYvg
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Norris, who reclaimed second place and reduced Piastri’s championship lead to 31 points, defended the fairness of the call.
“I earned my right to be ahead, to have that fairness,” Norris said. “None of us wanted it to happen like this.
“I don’t choose for these things to happen. I don’t wanna have to let him past or have to get let past.
“We have to do what we think is correct as a team. Do things a fair way. That’s how we want to do it.”
Team principal Andrea Stella confirmed the instruction came directly from the pit wall, citing both the botched pit stop and the original running order as reasons.
“It was definitely a call from the pit wall,” Stella said.
“We definitely wanted to retain the position after the pit stop, but somehow the position changed. So we felt that the right thing to do was go back to the original position and then let them race.
“I want to thank Oscar because he didn’t make it difficult at all.
“Once again, Oscar and Lando showed the principles and the values that we have going racing.”
The intervention even drew comment from outside McLaren, with race winner Max Verstappen questioning the decision over team radio.
Upon hearing Piastri had been told to let Norris through, he remarked: “Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?”
Verstappen later declined to criticise McLaren’s approach, saying: “I’m not going to comment on what they have to do, because they run the team how they want to run it, right?
“Just from my side, I think mistakes happen. Sometimes you can have a slow stop. You can make a mistake yourself as a driver. An engine can blow up or a failure, you know, that is all part of racing.”
Despite losing out in Monza, Piastri struck a measured tone on his performance, noting there was little McLaren could do to match Verstappen’s pace.
“I don’t know happy is a word, but not overly disappointed,” he said.
“I think it was clear today that as a team we didn’t have pace to match Max.
“On my side, I struggled a bit for the first half of the race with the balance. After that things improved quite a bit as the medium tyre got older.
“I felt really comfortable and strong at that point, but obviously we needed to pit at some stage. So not too many missed opportunities I don’t think, just not quite the pace.”
With his lead in the standings narrowed, Piastri said his focus was now on avoiding a repeat of such scenarios.
“There was nothing revolutionary from this weekend that I learned,” he added. “I think it was the same things.
“Qualifying further ahead helps you out and I know what I like and don’t like from the car.
“Today, unfortunately, it’s probably more of what I don’t like.
“I think just trying to make sure that we don’t end up in that spot again.”













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