Oscar Piastri told he now has a ‘card to play’ with McLaren after accepting Monza team orders

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McLaren used controversial team orders at the Italian Grand Prix after a pit stop blunder caused Lando Norris to drop behind Oscar Piastri.

McLaren decided to run both drivers long in the first stint, in case a late Safety Car was deployed. Norris was in the window for a pit stop for a couple of laps, but race leader Max Verstappen eventually covered him off with his superior pace.

Their attention then turned to fourth-placed Charles Leclerc. Having looked at how fast Verstappen closed the gap, they were worried Leclerc might do the same and pass Piastri. The straight-line speed of the Ferrari meant he would be difficult to pass, so they decided to pit Piastri first instead of Norris.

McLaren assured Norris that it would not impact the outcome of the race; however, the team produced a slow pit stop, which put him behind Piastri after the stops. The Australian was told to give the position back, with engineer Tom Stallard referencing Hungary last year and the role reversal.

Piastri obliged, but in doing so, he lost a further three points in the title race. Questions were asked over McLaren’s strategy, while the Australian later said it was a fair decision when speaking about it post-race.

Discussing how it panned out on the Pelas Pistas podcast, former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr believes he now has a ‘card to play’ when the title race gets tighter on points later in the season.

Oscar Piastri now has a ‘card to play’ against Lando Norris in 2025 title fight

Piastri still has a comfortable 31-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship over Norris, after the Briton was forced to retire from the Dutch GP with an oil leak.

Although Piastri felt that it was “part of racing” for Norris to have a bad pit stop and initially disagreed with the decision to swap the cars, Piquet Jr now thinks that the Australian also has the upper hand having played the team game.

“Piastri is gaining credit with the team. If things get tighter towards the end of the season, he has a card to play. I think he’s also being a team player, so he can say: ‘Man, I helped a lot then’ – There was no need to give the position back because of a team error,” said Piquet Jr.

“He’s going to regret this a lot if he loses the championship by less than three points. I don’t think that’s the case, I think he’ll win. But I think that decision wouldn’t have been made if there were three races left. If there were three races left, I doubt he would’ve done that.”

Did McLaren overthink its Italian Grand Prix strategy?

McLaren was clearly no match for Verstappen in Monza, after Red Bull made a breakthrough with its car over the Zandvoort weekend that benefited them.

The lack of tyre wear also helped Red Bull, but Norris finished 19 seconds behind Verstappen due to the combination of the slow stop, time lost swapping the cars and extending the first stint.

Had McLaren focused on maximising their pace rather than opportunities at the end, Norris would’ve finished closer and avoided the pit stop blunder.

Piastri had already extended his gap to Leclerc after his stunning opening lap overtake, and they effectively wasted time waiting for a Safety Car that didn’t come.