At the 2025 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, McLaren caused a stir by ordering Oscar Piastri to swap positions with his teammate Lando Norris in the closing laps of the race. The situation unfolded after a routine pit stop. Lando Norris was running ahead of Piastri in second place for most of the race. However, a slow pit stop for Norris caused him to fall behind his teammate, who had a clean stop a lap earlier.
At the start of the race, polesitter Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who started in second, went wheel-to-wheel into the first chicane. Norris had the inside line and Verstappen went wide, cutting the corner to maintain his lead. To avoid a penalty, the Red Bull team quickly instructed Verstappen to give the position back to Norris. Verstappen complied, letting Norris into the lead at the end of the first lap. However, Verstappen was able to retake the lead from Norris just a couple of laps later and then dominated the race from there.
McLaren's team principal, Andrea Stella, later explained that the team had made the decision to ensure a fair outcome. The team's strategy was to pit Piastri first to cover off a potential threat from Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari behind them, but they intended for the drivers to maintain their original positions. Since Norris's slow pit stop was due to a team issue and not driver error, they felt it was right to restore the original running order.
Lando Norris's pit stop was a full 5.9 seconds, which is significantly slower than a typical pit stop which is usually under 3 seconds. The reason for the delay was an issue with the wheel gun on the front-left tire. The mechanic had trouble tightening the wheel nut, causing a long delay and allowing Piastri, who had pitted on the previous lap, to get ahead.
The radio messages between Oscar Piastri and his race engineer, Tom Stallard, "This is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past, then you are free to race." Piastri's reply, "I mean, we said a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don't really get what's changed here. But if you really want me to do it, then I'll do it."
Adding to the drama, when told of the McLaren swap, Verstappen on his radio sounded audibly amused. "Just because he had a slow stop?" Piastri initially questioned the decision over the radio, but ultimately complied and let Norris by. Norris went on to finish second, while Piastri took third, though he did acknowledge that the team's decision was fair given the circumstances. The swap, however, did lead to some boos for Norris on the podium from the Monza crowd.
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