Lando Norris: "We just didn't have the pace to challenge today - one of the few weekends this year where we've not quite had the pace to win. But it was still a good race, and I enjoyed it.

"I did everything I could today. I had a good fight at the start - it's always a good fight with Max [Verstappen]- but he came out on top, and they deserved it this weekend. There wasn't a lot more I could do, second was the best we could achieve."

Oscar Piastri: "A trickier day for us. There were quite a few learning points from the first part of the race and also towards the end. It's inherently quite a unique track, so there are some things that we can improve on for next year and other low downforce tracks later in 2025.

"In terms of the call to swap, ultimately it was fair. We have things to discuss, as we always do with these sorts of racing situations. It's now time to refocus ahead of Baku."

Andrea Stella: "Today's Italian Grand Prix was a close and competitive race that ultimately came down to car pace around Monza. We saw this reality in Qualifying, and then also with the added layer of there being no degradation advantage for the team in the first stint of the race, from there it was going to be challenging to achieve a victory.

"We also saw the values and principles we have in our team culture, with Oscar giving the position back to Lando before they were allowed to race again until the Chequered Flag.

"Overall, P2 and P3 is not a bad result at a circuit we knew wouldn't necessarily suit our car. We finish the final European double-header with more important and valuable points in both Championships. Thank you to the entire team trackside and back in Woking for their continued support and effort so far this season."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 09/09/2025 14:55

"@Mad Matt.....Thanks for the note. We all see and analyse events based on perception on the facts that are presented. This is, IMO, one case where it was a deliberate 'fix'. There are numerous F1 luminaries who are much closer to the action than I will ever be that share the same opinion. My principle is that you never ever give points away irrespective of the margins. McLaren backed Oscar into a bad situation despite the fact that they had apparently previously agreed that pitstops were solely down to random race events and not flexible and adjustable. Yet they still insisted. I was disappointed that Stallard was just an in house messenger! Oscar will need to reappraise his outlook otherwise they will continue to manipulate the results. BE has nailed it, like Mark Webber warned last week. Trying to link this with the Hungarian episode last year was disingenious and Stella is a master at purveying reptilian lubricants. "

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2. Posted by Mad Matt, 08/09/2025 17:42

"@kenji Honestly I wouldn't have been upset if the place wasn't given back. The thing that stood out to me was that on the coverage I was watching Lando was heard saying/agreeing to give Oscar the first stop to help him. Perhpas there was more radio conversation going on than I heard. I also don't know if covering Charles was the real reason for giving Oscar first go, the details you give certainly cast doubt on that although McLaren have previous for over-reacting to these kind of things.

In the end, to judge based on what I saw and heard and given that Oscar is leading by more than a race win it seemed an OK way to handle it... from my point of view.

Oscar has done extremely well at Azerbaijan in the past so he'll probably extned his lead there..."

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3. Posted by kenji, 08/09/2025 11:35

"@Mad Matt according to figures quoted on another site the so called protection from Leclerc was false. Given a 2.5 sec pitstop allowed Piastri to rejoin with a minimum lead over the Ferrari of 3.5 secs. as Leclerc on a new set of hard tyres had only gained one half of one second on his first lap! Piastri did nothing wrong and neither did Norris. His slow pitstop was a ' racing incident' hence Piastri should not have been penalised. One opinion was that if Norris had pitted first and there was subsequently a safety car then Piastri would get a cheap turnaround and take at least second place. That is why Norris agreed with it in the first instance. McLaren are a joke considering their, 'they're free to race' mantra. Some5times drivers luck into improved results simply be 'being there' This was not one of those situations. This was a calculated stitch up as Mark Webber alluded to last week."

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4. Posted by Mad Matt, 08/09/2025 8:20

"From my point of view it seemed a reasonable response by McLaren. It wasn't simply a problem in a pitstop as an isolated event. In this case the team, like many others, gives the lead driver the preferred pitstop and Lando had agreed to give that up for Oscar to protect against the Ferrari behind.

"

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5. Posted by kenji, 08/09/2025 3:04

"Stella and his 'values and principles' are a smoke screen. This a WDC race between two members of the same team and team errors should not be used in such a manner as to favor one driver! This is what they've done here in Monza and it's smacks of double standards. Racing is racing,or at least it should be, without fear or favor towards any one driver especially when they've done nothing wrong or questionable in achieving their individual track position."

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Italian Grand Prix: Race team notes - McLaren

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