McLaren mechanic responds after fan claims Oscar Piastri is getting better pit-stops than Lando Norris

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McLaren’s pit crew are under scrutiny after a slow stop for Lando Norris at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. One of the team’s mechanics has now weighed in on the issue.

The McLaren team orders debate has dominated the post-race discourse. The pit wall asked Oscar Piastri to hand second place back to Lando Norris in the closing laps.

Norris had offered Piastri the chance to pit first, even though he was running ahead. This ensured that he wouldn’t be undercut by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

But when Norris pitted afterwards, a 5.87-second tyre change, a few seconds longer than customary, saw him drop behind his teammate. That was the indirect source of the controversy.

McLaren mechanic says Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have ‘the same’ luck with pit stops

Writing on X, one fan asked why ‘Oscar gets the fastest pit [stops]’. They accused McLaren of ‘favouring’ the Australian and thereby ‘spoiling’ the races.

McLaren mechanic Barry Childs dismissed this suggestion. While both drivers have suffered from occasional pit-stop mistakes, he believes their luck has averaged out over the course of the season.

“I think if you added them all up from over the year the average is probably around the same for both drivers,” he wrote.

The table above breaks down the stops for both drivers this year and, sure enough, shows that there’s only six-hundredths of a second in it. Piastri’s tyre changes have been marginally quicker, but it’s clear that there has been no preferential treatment.

Where do McLaren rank in the 2025 F1 pit stop table?

Piastri’s 1.91-second stop at Monza was comfortably the quickest any team produced on the day. In fact, it was the best effort by any pit crew this season.

This clearly enhanced the frustration for some of Norris’ fans, even though it could have happened to either driver.

Looking over the season as a whole, Ferrari top the ‘championship’, with McLaren in second. Red Bull are third ahead of sister team Racing Bulls and Mercedes complete the top five.

Piastri has been subject to more team orders than Norris this season, a point his supporters might well make. McLaren have done all they can to keep the title fight as fair as possible in the eyes of Zak Brown and Andrea Stella.

Nelson Piquet Jr says Piastri has a ‘card to play’ with McLaren after adhering to their instruction, but he’s unlikely to view it that way. Both drivers appear to be satisfied with how the team have managed their battle.