Piastri understands controversial team call

For the second year in a row, “Papaya Rules” are in question at Monza after McLaren team orders cost Oscar Piastri second place at the Italian Grand Prix.

As Max Verstappen drove into the distance, McLaren had to settle for the minor steps on the podium and made a mess of the situation late in the race.

Having extended the opening stint to as late as the final 10 laps, McLaren opted to give third-placed Piastri the opportunity to box first before runner-up Lando Norris.

This was unusual given the leading car usually has pit priority, but Norris himself suggested, “did you want to box the other car first?”

However, the call backfired spectacularly when a slow change on the front-left tyre saw Norris lose 4s in the lane and merged behind the Australian as a result.

This created a massive mess for McLaren, which are a few minutes requested Piastri to allow his teammate past to reinstate the order and sacrifice three points in the fight for the title.

Piastri followed the order, but not without making his viewpoint clear.

“I mean, we said that a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here, but if you really want me to do it, I’ll do it,” Piastri responded.

McLaren used the Hungary 2024 example when explaining the situation to Piastri, but it is extremely different.

During Piastri’s first win, Norris had accidentally been pushed to the lead by McLaren’s own making on the pit wall.

When the team realised the #4 would emerge ahead of the #81, it clearly swapped the positions despite some protests from the Brit.

On this occasion, Norris himself encouraged the team to pit Piastri first and sacrifice pit priority and the undercut.

It has opened a dangerous can of worms in regards to how McLaren manages the title fight going forward and the situation was best summed up by winner and rival Max Verstappen, who literally laughed at the team’s call.

Not even the Ferrari-focused “Tifosi” liked what they saw, booing Norris as he arrived on the world-famous podium.

It is ironic Papaya Rules are back in focus at Monza, given it was the same circuit last year when the term got in vouge after Piastri launched a counterattack on Norris, who was better placed for an unlikely title fight with Verstappen.

Piastri, who laughingly described the 2025 example as “just an inchident” post-race, was as calm as ever.

Despite his initial concerns, the Aussie made it clear he thought it was a “fair request” and saw the bigger picture.

“It’s something that we’ll discuss and have discussed it before. I think today was a fair request,” Piastri said. 

“Lando qualified ahead, was ahead the whole race, and lost that spot through no fault of his own. 

“I said what I had to say on the radio and once I got the second request, then I’m not going to go against the team. 

“I think there’s a lot of people to protect and a culture to protect outside of just Lando and I ultimately that’s a very important thing going forward.”

With Charles Leclerc not quite threatening the McLarens, the team had the freedom to make these calls without the risk of losing track position.

However, if the Ferrari was in the fight, Piastri believes it would have been impossible to make such a call.

“I think if it’s within your control and there’s no other cars involved, it’s quite simple,” he said. 

“But if there’s other cars involved, we’re not going to give away all of those points to other teams for a mistake. 

“When there’s no cars in between, it’s much easier to rectify it, so to answer your question, if there had been more cars in between, then no, we wouldn’t have swapped back because at that point it does just become very unfortunate.”

After his Zandvoort Grand Slam, losing three of his 34-point advantage over Norris was not the end of the world for Piastri.

Even if this proves to be the difference in the title fight after Abu Dhabi, Piastri will not look back in anger.

“I wouldn’t regret it,” he said. 

“I think today it was a fair decision. 

“Lando was ahead the whole race and again it wasn’t through any fault of his own. For me, that’s fine.

“Ultimately, whoever wins the championship wants to have won it as much as they can through their own performances and things they can control. 

“Today, that wasn’t one of those things.”

The debate will roll on for a fortnight before the next chapter is written at Baku.

Image: Simon Galloway/LAT Images/Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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