Italian GP: Were McLaren right to swap Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri around after slow pit stop impacted world championship battle?
Lando Norris cut Oscar Piastri's title lead to 31 points at the Italian GP but McLaren in late drama after slow pit stop for Norris saw him drop behind team-mate; McLaren instructed Piastri to give place back; Norris, Piastri and Andrea Stella all insisted McLaren made a "fair" instruction
Monday 8 September 2025 12:26, UK
The major talking point of the Italian Grand Prix was McLaren’s decision to make title rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris swap positions in the closing stages at Monza.
McLaren ordered world championship leader Piastri to cede second place to Norris with four laps remaining after a slow pit stop had seen the Briton fall behind his team-mate.
McLaren and Norris had agreed to, unusually, let Piastri make the first pit stop despite being the second Papaya car on track as they sought to ensure they would secure both podium positions ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc as Max Verstappen stormed to a dominant win for Red Bull.
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Norris stopped a lap later than Piastri, but an issue with tightening the wheel nut on his front left tyre meant his stop was four seconds slower and enabled the Australian to move ahead.
Had Piastri finished second, his championship advantage would have increased to 37 points over Norris, but McLaren's decision means the gap is instead 31 points with eight rounds remaining.
What caused McLaren's pit-stop drama?
Usual procedure is for the leading car to get the first call on team strategy, but after McLaren had waited until inside the final 10 laps to make their mandatory pit stop, Norris agreed to let Piastri pit first "as long as there was no undercut" to ensure the Australian would be under no threat from Leclerc.
Norris was assured he would not lose position, so at the end of lap 45 Piastri pitted for soft tyres and was sent on his way again after a 1.9 second stop.
Norris made his stop a lap later, but an issue with his front left tyre resulted in a 5.9 second stop and him emerging behind his team-mate.
Piastri's engineer Tom Stallard said on team radio: "Oscar, this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race."
The reference to "Hungary last year" was Norris moving aside to let Piastri claim his first Grand Prix win after strategy had inverted their positions.
Piastri replied: "I mean, we said a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don't really get what's changed here. But if you really want me to do it, then I'll do it."
The Australian then let Norris by into Turn One at the start of lap 49 of 53, and would not be able to keep pace with his team-mate to attempt an overtake in the final four laps.
What did the drivers say post-race?
While he initially questioned the call over team radio, Piastri accepted it had been a fair call by McLaren to have him cede second place.
"It's something we'll discuss for sure. When you're in the same team it's the same pit crew, same mechanics, there's a lot at stake not just for us but the whole team. I think today the decision to swap back was fair," the Australian told Sky Sports F1.
"Lando was ahead of me the whole race so I don't have any issues with that. But we'll definitely discuss it."
Norris told Sky Sports F1: "We were still free to race after and he gained from the situation having DRS to fight against me so I still lost out through it.
"The same thing would have happened vice versa. I earned my right to be ahead, to have that fairness. None of us wanted it to happen like this. I don't want to have to let him past or have to get let past, but we have to do what we think is correct as a team. Do things the fair way, that's how we want to do it.
"We don't care what others say or opinions on it, we do it the way we want to, the way we think is correct."
Stella: Swap about fairness and consistency
Team principal Andrea Stella said McLaren's call from the pitwall complied with the principles of how the team wish to go racing amid Piastri and Norris' exclusive title fight.
"I think that the pitstop 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 that the championship runs within the principles and the racing values that we have at McLaren and that we have created together with our drivers.
"The situation whereby we stop the drivers is not only related to the pit stop, and this is a thing useful that I clarify, it's also related to the fact that we wanted to sequence the pit stops of the two cars by stopping Oscar first and then Lando.
"We had the clear intent that this should have not 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 had been a red flag or a Safety Car.
"We pursued the team interest and to capitalise as much as possible on this interest, we needed to go first with Oscar, then with Lando.
"But the clear intent was, this is not going to deliver a swap of positions.
"The fact that we went first with Oscar, compounded by the slow pit stop of Lando, then led to a swap of positions, and we thought it was absolutely the right thing to do to go back to the situation pre-existing at the pit stop and then let the guys race.
"This is what we did, and this is what we think is in compliance with our principles."
Has a precedent been set for future races?
While McLaren are determined to keep the title fight as fair as possible between their two drivers, both Piastri and Norris acknowledged the circumstances of future incidents will determine their actions if a similar situation arose.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Piastri said: "If it's within your control and there's no other cars involved, it's quite simple. But obviously if there's other cars involved, we're not going to give away all of those points to other teams for a mistake.
"When there's no cars in between, it's much easier to rectify it. If there had been more cars in between, then no, we wouldn't have swapped back because at that point, it does just become very unfortunate."
Norris added: "Every situation is different, so I think it's pretty stupid just to assume that kind of thing and just say that's the precedent you set.
"We're not idiots, and we have plans for different things. If there was four cars in between me and Oscar, of course he's not going to let me back past, and I don't think that's correct that he 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. Today was not my fault.
"If I came flat out into my box and hit all my mechanics out of 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. We don't want to lose or win like that, but 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."
What did the Sky Sports F1 pundits think?
Speaking on commentary as the swap happened, Martin Brundle said: "I think that is fair. Lando played the team game, to help Oscar defend against Leclerc. He didn't get the 1.9-second stop and now they're free to race."
Karun Chandhok said: "I thought that Oscar made a really good point about the mechanics. In the pit garage you have two cars and mechanics on Oscar's car and Lando's car. But they all come together for the pit stops and you don't want a mechanic who normally works on Oscar's car to have cost Lando a position. That creates an internal tension and an odd dynamic through the team.
"I fully understand what McLaren did because the Constructors' Championship is sown up so they want to keep a healthy, harmonious atmosphere even between the engineering groups, mechanics and not just the two drivers.
"As a purist you could say, 'that's motor racing' but if I was in Andrea Stella's place I'd have done exactly what he did."
Nico Rosberg said: "They try very hard [to be fair] but at the same time I can understand that Oscar might have a little issue with that, since up until now a slow pit stop was part of racing.
"It's not 100 per cent an obvious one, but yes I think this was the fair way to do it today."
Jamie Chadwick said: "They need to keep the morale in the team good still. Oscar will have a few questions and I think he'll make sure if this situation ever happens again he will be on the right side of it, which I think is a very valuable thing for Oscar to have in his pocket when he needs it.
"Oscar has a good points advantage, he knows he doesn't need to upset the apple cart at this point. If he didn't give that position back today that would have also set a precedent for the rest of this year."
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