McLaren have been accused of manipulating the result of the Italian Grand Prix after telling Oscar Piastri to move aside for Lando Norris following a botched pit stop. The McLaren duo both finished on the podium at Monza, with Red Bull star Max Verstappen crossing the chequered flag ahead of them.
McLaren have dominated on the track this season, with the Woking-based outfit currently 337 points ahead of Ferrari at the top of the Constructors’ Championship standings. Piastri is leading the way in the Drivers’ Championship after winning seven Grands Prix this year. But the Australian saw his lead at the top reduced to 31 points on Sunday after Norris finished ahead of him.
Piastri headed into the pits on lap 46 of 53, with the visit lasting just 1.9 seconds. Norris was then called in one lap later but was stationary for four seconds due to an issue with the wheel nut on his front tyre. And the Briton therefore rejoined the race just behind Piastri.
Piastri was told by his race engineer Tom Stallard: “We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race.”
The current F1 leader initially complained as he protested: “I mean, we said that a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here.” But he then agreed to the request as he added: “But, if you really want to do it, then I’ll do it.”
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The move proved controversial, with some people claiming Piastri had been treated unfairly.
And former F1 star David Coulthard had his say on the matter as he told Channel 4: “So you can see the wheel gun went on. The wheel gun came off. They weren’t sure.
“It went back on again. And they get a sequence of lights to tell them that everything has been seated properly.
“There was just a hesitation, a rare mistake, given that you just highlighted the brilliant stop they did for Oscar. This is just racing.
“They obviously felt that the race was neutralised with Lando having the advantage coming into the pit stop.
“They feel that he’s been disadvantaged because of the team, not because of something that Oscar has done on track, and then they’ve asked him to make the switch.”
And Coulthard added: “This just feels a little bit manipulating – manipulating the result. And that feels uncomfortable, I have to say.”