F1 fans send McLaren a clear message after ’embarrassing’ Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris Monza decision

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McLaren find themselves at the centre of major controversy at the Italian Grand Prix after missing out on victory to Max Verstappen.

Oscar Piastri held a 34-point lead over Lando Norris heading into the Italian Grand Prix. It was widely expected to be a battle between the McLaren drivers, but Verstappen and Red Bull had other ideas.

The Dutchman produced a stunning lap in qualifying to take pole position over Norris. Verstappen was overtaken by the Brit at the first corner but regained the position after running wide.

After relinquishing the lead to Norris, the four-time champion overtook the McLaren and sawed off into the distance for his third win of the season. That left Norris and Piastri battling for second after the latter almost lost out to Charles Leclerc at one stage.

During the round of pit stops, Piastri was instructed to pit first, with Norris coming in a lap later. The Brit’s stop was hindered by the front-left wheel gun failing, costing him position to his teammate.

F1 fans slam McLaren’s ’embarrassing’ team orders to Oscar Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix

Piastri’s race engineer came over the radio to tell him to give up the position to Norris, referencing the controversy at the 2024 Hungarian GP where the roles were reversed. The Aussie felt the slow stop was just part of racing, but followed the order anyway.

Norris came home to finish second with Piastri third, allowing him to gain three points on his teammate in the standings. Martin Brundle felt McLaren’s team orders were ‘fair’, but fans on X (formerly Twitter) utterly disagreed.

Thousands of fans flooded the comments of McLaren’s post after the race to vent their anger towards the team’s decision. “Shame on the leadership. Absolute disgrace,” wrote one disgruntled fan.

“Team orders is genuinely pathetic, bringing up Hungary from last year,” said another user. Many fans were angry with the treatment towards Piastri: “Shame on you for treating Oscar this way,” said one fan, while another echoed: “Oscar fighting his team and teammate.”

One user wrote: “Piastri deserves better. Stop babying Norris your favourite. It’s embarrassing,” while another was far from impressed with the Woking outfit: “This treatment of Piastri by McLaren is unacceptable. He’s a championship contender too!”

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McLaren could cost Oscar Piastri the championship with Italian Grand Prix decision

Norris has closed the gap to Piastri to 31 points with eight races to go. It is a minimal dent to the latter’s championship lead, but the events of Monza could be costly.

Norris has plenty of opportunities to take advantage and get ahead of his teammate, with the pair still being allowed to fight. While Monza could be seen as making things even from Budapest last year, this decision could see Piastri lose the championship.

Brundle had given Norris some advice before the Italian GP on how to get the better of Piastri. He put his rare mechanical failure at Zandvoort behind him to close the gap in the standings at Monza, even if the outcome was manipulated by McLaren.

The Woking outfit will not want to be put in another situation like that in the final races of the season. McLaren will want the 2025 season to be decided between their drivers in combat on the track.