Monza — Oscar Piastri will face the stewards after FP2 at the Italian Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver under investigation for allegedly leaving the pit lane before an official restart time was communicated following a red flag.
The session was halted 10 minutes in when Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli spun and beached it at Lesmo 2, bringing out the red flag and a familiar Monza traffic jam at pit exit. As marshals cleared the gravel-stranded W15, the field queued up for the restart. That’s where the flashpoint came.
Piastri was released to the head of the line before the FIA had issued a formal resumption time — a potential breach of the race director’s instructions. Red Bull’s Gianpiero Lambiase clocked it immediately and radioed Max Verstappen: “Piastri at the head of the queue, Max. He did leave without the resumption time, so it’s being looked into.”
The FIA quickly confirmed the matter had been referred to the stewards. Piastri and a McLaren representative have been summoned at 18:20 local time.
It’s the sort of procedural misstep that usually earns a stern word and, depending on how black-and-white the guidance was, anything from a reprimand to a fine. Practice-session infringements rarely go nuclear, but Monza’s pit lane can turn small margins into big headlines. And with a title fight running hot, every detail gets magnified.
Piastri arrives in Italy as the form man of the season, fresh off his seventh win of the year at Zandvoort and very much in charge of the narrative. The Australian’s execution has been razor sharp, McLaren’s pit wall equally so — which makes Friday’s hiccup slightly out of character. Whether it was a simple miscommunication in the queue or an overeager release will be the crux of the stewards’ chat.
For McLaren, the priority will be clearing this up without inviting any knock-on effect for Saturday. Monza is about rhythm and minimal drag; schedules are tight, and set-up windows tiny. Nobody wants to waste FP2 momentum on an admin headache.
The incident also arrives on a day when Mercedes had their own unwanted spotlight with Antonelli’s early spin. The Italian teenager, racing his first home Grand Prix weekend in F1, found the gravel at a place that’s claimed plenty of bigger scalps. No damage done beyond pride and a lengthened red flag — and it inadvertently set the stage for Piastri’s summons.
It’s worth noting the culture around these restarts: cars roll, teams hover inches from the line, and the first movement often starts a chain reaction. The race director’s timing is the law amid the anticipation. If Piastri jumped that gun, the rulebook is quite clear; if the timing or signals were ambiguous in the moment, expect a more nuanced outcome.
Either way, this is pit-lane politics more than moral outrage. Expect a tidy resolution before the sun dips behind the trees in the Parco di Monza.
We’ll update once the stewards have spoken.
