Norris vs Piastri: McLaren duo have their say after Monza swap

Max Verstappen claimed a dominant win on Sunday, but post-race all attention focused on the McLaren team orders saga, which cost Piastri P2 (through no fault of his own) after the team fluffed Norris' pit stop (through no fault of his own), who had been in P2 before that, to make amends for the crew dropping the ball.

From the start, Norris was in the wars, challenging pole-sitter Verstappen on the 200mph drag race to the Variante del Rettifilo. Verstappen held firm, forcing Norris onto the grass before cutting the chicane. “Yeah, what the f@ck,” Norris exclaimed. “What is this idiot doing? Come on. He’s put me on the grass and then he’s just cut the corner.”

Verstappen argued that Norris had braked late, but his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, told him to give the place back. At the start of lap two, Verstappen conceded, only to reclaim the lead on lap four and disappear into the distance.

Norris admitted: “It was nerve-rackingly close, but that is what you expect from Max. In the end, his pace was far too good.” Indeed, By mid-race, Verstappen was untouchable, powering to Red Bull’s first victory since May in Imola. His average speed of 250.706kph set a new Formula 1 record, underlining the ease of his 66th career win.

Behind, Norris looked set for a comfortable second place until his sole stop on lap 47 unravelled. A sticky front-left wheel left him stationary for 5.9 seconds, dropping him behind Piastri, who had already undercut Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Suddenly, the Australian championship leader was in position to extend his advantage from 34 to 37 points. But McLaren intervened.

Piastri protested briefly and calmly on the radio: “We said that a slow pit-stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what changed here. But I will do it.” On lap 49 of 53, he yielded to Norris.

Verstappen, when discussing the switch by his chasing rivals, laughed: “Just because of a slow pit stop?”

Afterwards, Norris admitted: “I felt like I was there for quite a long time, but every now and then we make mistakes and today was one of them.”

Piastri’s engineer Tom Stallard, consoled him: “Oscar, I appreciate that was painful, but I think we did the right thing.” Piastri took it on the chin with a cheeky quip mimicking a Leclerc meme: “A little 'incshident" at the end, but it was okay.”

Piastri later offered a measured response. “I think today it was a fair request. Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race, and lost the spot through no fault of his own. So, I said what I had to say on the radio and once I got the second request, I’m not going against the team.

"There are a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and I.. Ultimately, that’s a very important thing going forward.”

Still, Piastri conceded: “The radio call kind of says enough, so I’m sure we’ll discuss it again. Ultimately whoever wins this championship wants to win as much as they can through their own performances and things that they can control, and today that wasn’t one of those things.”

Norris argued McLaren acted correctly. “We’re not idiots. But in a situation where we can just be fair, then you’d expect to be fair as a team. Today was not my fault. If I came flat out into my box and I hit a mechanic out the way, I also don’t expect to get the position back, but today was out of my control. We don’t want to lose or win like that but we do what we think is correct for the team.”

The swap provoked boos from sections of the Monza crowd as Norris stepped on the podium. “I heard them, but I don’t know what I am meant to do. The cheers were louder than the boos, and that is the most important thing.”

Asked if he doubted Piastri would comply, the Briton replied: “No, because it is what we decided as a team and we all agreed on. Every situation is different, so it is pretty stupid to say that a precedent has been set.”

The outcome trimmed Piastri’s championship lead to 31 points with eight races remaining. Norris, still in contention after a costly DNF in Zandvoort, insisted: “I don’t want to win this way, and the same with Oscar. But we do what we think is correct as a team, no matter what people say and what their opinions are, and we will stick with that.”

Leclerc salvaged P4 for Ferrari ahead of George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton climbing from 10th to sixth. But it was McLaren’s handling of its title fight that stole the spotlight from Verstappen’s record-breaking day.