Max Verstappen started from pole and fought off an early challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris before cruising to an easy victory in the F1 Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The Red Bull Racing driver crossed the line 19.207 seconds ahead of Norris to take his third win of the season and signal that he might be a factor in the McLaren teammates’ battle for the 2025 championship.
“The car was really enjoyable to drive and I could manage the pace quite well, and we pitted at the right time, ” said Verstappen. “Great execution from the whole team, and the whole weekend we were on it. It’s really enjoyable to win here.”
While Verstappen emerged victorious, the story in the race turned out to be the clear message that McLaren sent Oscar Piastri about who it wants to win the drivers’ championship, ordering him to let Norris past after Norris lost second due to a slow late pitstop.
A seemingly stunned Piastri smiled uncomfortably for about 10 seconds when asked about the order in the post-race interviews, and then offered: “An incident at the end but it’s okay.”
“Clearly there were valid reasons for swapping back — Lando qualified ahead and was ahead the whole race – I get that but just some things we need to discuss,” said Piastri.
McLaren seemed to expect Norris to emerge at least equal with his teammate, telling Piastri before his stop that “you are free to race with Lando once he’s ahead at the pit exit.” But the slow pitstop by Norris made that moot as Piastri was already ahead at pit exit and opened up a two-second advantage.
Nevertheless, McLaren still told the Australian to yield, which saw Piastri go silent on the radio for the final laps.
In the end, Piastri crossed the line 2.144 seconds behind Norris, in third, and saw his points lead cut by three to 31 (324-293), when it should have increased by three to 37. Verstappen is third, with 203 points. In the constructor standings, McLaren extended its lead again, with it now sitting at a whopping 337 points, 617 to 280 over second-placed Ferrari. Mercedes is third, with 260.
For his part, Norris shrugged off the controversy, simply saying that he had “no idea” what happened in the pitstop.
“I don’t know but I felt like I was there for quite a long time — I guess every now and then we make mistakes as a team and today was one of them,” he said. “It’s not how I want things to go, I don’t make those things or plan for these things. I don’t want to win or come second or third or whatever like this but it’s the most fair thing. I was behind and if Oscar had the same thing, I would have to give up my position because it’s not my fault or Oscar’s fault, it was a team mistake and that cost me. I know it doesn’t look like the best thing but it’s the most fair at the end of the day for driver against driver and that’s how the team wants to play it.”
Following the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that the team pitted its cars “with the clear intent” to not swap the positions.
“Unfortunately, this was compounded with the fact that we had a slow pitstop,” said Stella. “Because we had the sequence with Oscar first and then the slow pitstop, we thought the fair thing to do was to go back to the positions that they had before the pitstop. I’m sure Oscar will be very comfortable with this.”
After an early challenge from Norris, a late safety car posed the only threat to Verstappen’s victory. It never came and instead he took some fun in watching the drama unfold behind.
When told that Piastri gave second back to Norris, Verstappen quipped on the radio: “Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?”
Things started poorly for both Aston Martin drivers, with the pair being investigated for their practice starts during the final practice session. They only got worse for Fernando Alonso, who retired after damaging his suspension going over a curb on Lap 26.
Canadian Lance Stroll didn’t do much better, ending the day one lap down to the leader as the last runner in the race, finishing 18th.
