David Coulthard accuses McLaren of ‘manipulating’ Monza after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri team orders

Follow us on Google Discover

It looked like the only talking point that was going to come out of the Italian Grand Prix was whether Red Bull Racing were suddenly back after Max Verstappen’s imperious victory.

However, in the closing stages of the race, McLaren made sure that they were once again at the centre of attention at the Italian Grand Prix, although this time not for the right reasons.

McLaren made the ultra-conservative decision to pit Oscar Piastri before Lando Norris, just in case Charles Leclerc managed a very unlikely undercut in the closing stages of the race.

Piastri enjoyed a rapid 1.9-second stop, only for McLaren to fumble Norris’ tyre change a lap later, suddenly switching the drivers on track.

A lap later, Piastri allowed his teammate back past on the main straight, although he questioned McLaren’s initial decision on the team radio.

F1 fans weren’t happy with McLaren’s decision, and Norris was booed as he walked onto the podium at Monza after cutting Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ championship to 31 points.

Martin Brundle gave his honest verdict on McLaren’s team orders, and watching his old team take centre stage, David Coulthard had his say as well.

He joked that the team might owe him a few victories back in the 1990s, but made a more serious point about whether, as a fan, he wanted McLaren to make that kind of decision.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

David Coulthard accuses McLaren of ‘manipulating’ the Italian Grand Prix after team orders decision

Coulthard was reflecting on the race for Channel 4, and asked about the biggest talking point of the race, he explained: “So you can see the wheel gun went on. The wheel gun came off. They weren’t sure.

“He 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.

“On one hand, I get it, because they’ve been playing that card since last year. They focus on trying to win the constructors’ championship.

“Inside the racer and inside the little boy that grew up a fan of the sport, I want to see racing wheel to wheel. And yes, sometimes engines will blow up. Yes, sometimes you’ll get involved in an incident.

“This just feels a little bit manipulating, manipulating the result, and that feels uncomfortable, I have to say.

“But it’s within the rules, and it’s McLaren, right. And look, they’re going to win the constructors’ and the drivers’ championship this year, but this just feels like it should be left for them to go about it.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

David Coulthard explains how Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be feeling about Monza team orders

Coulthard was then asked about how the drivers would react to McLaren’s team orders, and that Norris was booed when he went onto the podium by the crowd.

He said: “Well, thankfully, I didn’t hear that, because that’s always uncomfortable. But you summarised it perfectly.

“As a driver, you want to win races or deserve a result on merit. You don’t want to be handed results.

“That’s what we race from a very young age for, and this is what I think sometimes brilliant engineers, brilliant managers, the people that make all of this happen for the drivers, don’t fully understand as much as they’re passionate, and this is their lives.

“They’ve not sat in that race car, they’ve not sweated, they’ve not had the pain, they’ve not had the anguish.

“And I just think that your race engineer has to be your man on the inside, and when your race engineer is effectively saying, Well, look, you have to do this to the benefit of your teammate. That’s uncomfortable, yeah, that just hurts.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

McLaren trying to avoid Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg situation at Mercedes with team orders

Andrea Stella and Zak Brown will be well aware of the situation they’ve created at the Italian Grand Prix.

Much has been made of McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’, and while Sunday’s decision might blur the lines on what’s acceptable and what isn’t for those outside the team, as long as everyone within it is on board, then there shouldn’t be a problem.

Karun Chandhok thinks McLaren are avoiding a situation that Mercedes dealt with in 2016 when it came to managing Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

However, it only takes Norris or Piastri ignoring a team order over the radio once for the relationship to completely break down.

As the conclusion of the drivers’ championship draws closer, it will become more and more tempting for both racers to put themselves ahead of the team in the search for individual glory.