Oscar Piastri is managed by ex-F1 driver Mark Webber who famously coined the phrase, “Not bad for a number 2 driver” after leading from lights out to the chequered flag at the 2010 British Grand Prix. Webber was clearly rankled by the handling of the Red Bull management of the intra-team battle between him and his team mate Sebastian Vettel.
That weekend team boss Christian Horner had removed an updated front wing from Webber’s car and instructed the team to fit it to Vettel’s RB6 for qualifying, giving the Aussie the old spec wing instead.
When pressed after the Grand Prix on whether “revenge” had been dished out and the it was “poetic justice” the way things worked out for Webber, the candid Australian stated: “Honestly, I would never have signed a contract again for next year if I had believed that’s the way it was going to be going forward. That’s why yesterday I was disappointed… let’s see how it goes in the future.”
From one Aussie to another
Vettel and Webber were team mates for five seasons and even in their final year together, controversy was never far from the pair. In their final year together in 2013 another big row developed with the Malaysian Grand Prix “multi-21” saga. With Mark leading the race, Vettel decided to disobey an order to hold station, instead turning up his engine to blast past his team mate and take the victory.
There were echoes of another Australian being disadvantaged today in Monza with McLaren now in a position where both their drivers want to compete for the 2025 drivers’ title race. And in Italy they delivered more than the usual Monza theatrical production. The team’s call to shuffle its drivers in the closing stages of the race has stirring a debate that has carried well beyond the chequered flag.
The “papaya” pair had run deep into the race on their starting tyres waiting for a late safety car, yet once Max Verstappen had covered off any advantage they would accrue from a full course yellow, the team offered Lando the first pit stop. He replied suggesting they give it to Oscar, just to protect from Leclerc who was attempting the undercut.
McLaren lightening tyre change
The team delivered a lightening 1.9 seconds tyre change for Piastri, but when Norris arrived a lap later, a sticking front wheel gun delayed him for almost five seconds. This handed second place to Piastri when Norris returned to the track, something which felt unfair on the British driver who had the edge all weekend.
The swap restored Norris to second place behind race winner Max Verstappen, while Piastri came home third. Although the Australian complied, he voiced frustration on the radio, remarking: “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, then I’ll do it.”
The exchange was hard to miss, even for Verstappen, who later admitted his surprise at hearing such an instruction. And it was not only rivals raising eyebrows – Nico Rosberg suggested McLaren had now created an “awkward” situation within its garage.
McLaren boss predicts ‘loss of sportsmanship”
Slow “pitstops just part of racing”
“Pit stop times are just a part of racing, and what goes around, comes around,” Rosberg told Sky F1. “Sometimes one has a faster stop than the other. So it’s a really difficult one internally, and that will require some talks, because I think Oscar is not going to be happy with that.”
Team principal Andrea Stella defended the decision, insisting the move was consistent with the “papaya rules” of fairness agreed after last year’s similar incident in Hungary.
“Today, when we started the pit stop sequencing, we started the sequence pitting Oscar first, but with a clear intent that we would not swap the positions,” Stella explained. “Unfortunately, this compounded with the fact that we had a slow pit stop. But because we had the sequence with Oscar first and then the slow pit stop, we thought that the fair thing to do was to go back to the positions that we had before the pit stop.”
Nothing to do with Zandvoort
Stella stressed the call was unrelated to Norris’s Zandvoort retirement the previous week. “The decision we made today doesn’t have to do with what happened in the Netherlands. It’s completely independent of the DNF that the team caused in the Netherlands for Lando. This is a completely separate situation and we take one race at a time.”
The McLaren boss insisted Piastri understood the logic: “I’m sure Oscar will be very comfortable with this. He already was comfortable during the race. So we show again the values, the principles that we have at McLaren.”
Jamie Chadwick, joining Rosberg in the Sky studio, argued the team had little choice but to intervene. “It is credit to the drivers that they react the way that they do but the harmony in that team seems to be very good, despite the fact they’re going head to head for a world Championship. From the team’s point of view, they had to make the call to do that, because they messed up the pit stop for Lando. He’d been quicker all weekend.”
Further it was Lando’s suggestion the team service Piastri first when the wheel gun worked properly. It would then have been during Piastri’s pit stop where the delay occurred without Norris intervention, something which may have offered Charles Leclerc the opportunity to claim third on the podium and shuffle Oscar down to P4.
Newey shock comment about Aston Martin titles
Title remains Piastri’s to lose
With Norris banking 18 points for second and Piastri 15 for third, the gap between the pair has now shrunk a small amount to 31 with eight races remaining. McLaren, though, departed Monza with a double podium – an achievement Stella underlined as proof the team’s structure still works.
But as Rosberg pointed out, there may be turbulence ahead. “Of course, you look out from outside and you think ‘okay, that’s the only way to do it fair, because Lando deserves second place because he just did a much better weekend.’ But it’s not straight cuts.”
McLaren likes to brand its approach as “sportsmanship with a stopwatch,” but to the outside world, it looked like a team order wrapped in papaya tissue paper. Piastri, with his carefully measured response, sounded less like a rising champion and more like an employee dutifully re-filing someone else’s paperwork.
The irony is that McLaren insists this is fairness. But as history shows – from Webber’s “not bad for a number two driver” to Rosberg and Hamilton swapping mechanics overnight – fairness in a title fight tends to evaporate faster than Pirelli’s soft tyres on a hot day in Hungary.
McLaren cheeky Alpine request over junior driver
The year was 2022 and as the summer break began all hell broke loose in the Formula One driver market. Having failed to secure a contract extension from his Alpine team, Fernando Alonso fired the starting gun by announcing he was leaving to join Aston Martin.
The Spaniard was to replace Sebastian Vettel who had indicated his retirement in the run up to the Hungarian Grand Prix late in July. Alpine’s response was swift as they revealed on social media that Alonso’s replacement would be their junior driver Oscar Piastri.
Yet just ninety minutes later, Piastri responded with shocking effect and maximum embarrassment to the chiefs in Enstone. “This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”…. READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
Andrew’s work focuses particularly on the intersection of Formula 1 politics, regulation, and team strategy. Andrew closely follows developments involving the FIA, team leadership, and driver market dynamics, helping to provide context behind the sport’s biggest stories.
With experience covering multiple seasons of Formula 1’s modern hybrid era, Andrew has developed a detailed understanding of how regulatory changes and competitive shifts influence the grid. Andrew’s editorial approach prioritises clarity and context, aiming to help readers navigate complex developments within the sport.
In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
