McLaren team orders have forced Oscar Piastri to hand second place back to Lando Norris during a thrilling Italian Grand Prix in front of a sun-soaked Monza crowd. The Australian was stuck behind Norris for nearly the whole race, but managed to overtake his teammate and championship rival after the Briton suffered a botched slow pitstop.
To keep the championship fight fair and abide by their papaya rules, McLaren told Piastri to swap places with Norris.
Piastri maintained his composure but bristled slightly and told his engineer “we agreed slow pit stops were a part of racing”.
“But if you really want me to do it, I’ll do it,” he said over the radio.
The two Mclarens swapped places and Norris finished the race in second place with Piastri in third and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth. Meanwhile, an untouchable Max Verstappen set a blistering pace and converted his pole position to win the Italian Grand Prix and secured the fastest F1 race in world championship history.
After the race, Piastri’s engineer told him he’d “done the right thing” and the Australian conceded it was “a tough one”.
In the aftermath of the race, social media was brimming with comments declaring McLaren’s bias towards Norris, with NBA superstar Joel Embiid posting on X, “These papaya rules are something else lmao….. Oscar is a better man than me”.
In a post-race interview, Piastri remained professional and said he was happy to take the points.
“Plenty to learn, happy going forwards and we’ll try and be better next weekend,” he said.
McLaren’s formidable dominance has been the talk of the F1 2025 season, with the papaya team notching 12 grand prix wins out of the 16 races.
However, their performance on Sunday was a consequence of downforce levels and track characteristics. Affectionately dubbed the Temple of Speed, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is one of the oldest and most beloved circuits on Formula 1’s calendar, characterised by its long straights and heavy braking zones.
The McLaren has previously been incredibly powerful on corners. However, Monza has very few turns, which minimised the papaya team’s advantage.
As former F1 commentator Will Buxton famously remarked, “Italy has two religions; the Catholic Church and Ferrari”.
Verstappen battled Norris on the opening lap in front of a roaring red-clad Tifosi crowd. The two were side-by-side going into the first turn, but Verstappen cut the corner, which put Norris in the grass.
“What’s this idiot doing? He’s put me in the grass and then he just cuts the corner,” Norris complained over the radio.
Verstappen was forced to give the place back; however, the Dutchman managed to overtake Norris on lap 4 and quickly accelerated into a six-second margin that Norris would never catch.
Meanwhile, Piastri survived numerous overtakes by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and managed to hold on to his third position. He briefly snatched second from Norris during the pitstop debacle but gave it back.
The incident was similar to McLaren’s position in Hungary last year, when Norris was asked to give a position back to Piastri. The Briton initially refused and then begrudgingly agreed.
McLaren’s CEO Zac Brown has consistently and emphatically declared the team have no No.1 driver. They want Norris and Piastri to battle and race each other.
However after Sunday’s result, potential favouritism towards Norris – a driver that’s been with the team for eight years – may be incrementally creeping in.