Coulthard calls out McLaren over Monza swap: “It felt like the result was manipulated”
McLaren left Monza with a clean 2-3, but not a clean conscience for everyone watching. David Coulthard said the team’s decision to order Oscar Piastri aside for Lando Norris “felt a little bit manipulating,” arguing the Italian Grand Prix pecking order should’ve been settled on track.
Max Verstappen was untouchable out front, easing to his third win of the season. McLaren’s fight was entirely in-house, and that’s where the weekend’s real controversy lived.
The flashpoint arrived late. With the stops pushed deep into the 53-lapper, Piastri was cleared to box first after Norris was told there’d be “no undercut.” Piastri nailed a 1.9s service. Norris, in a lap later, didn’t. A front wheel nut hesitation left him parked for roughly four seconds, and he re-emerged behind his teammate.
Then came the call. “We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race,” Piastri was told by race engineer Tom Stallard. The Australian pushed back — politely — noting that slow pit stops are “part of racing.” He complied anyway. Norris was waved through, Piastri hung onto DRS for a handful of laps, then drifted out of range and finished 2.1s behind.
That single instruction trimmed Piastri’s championship lead over Norris to 31 points, per the post-Monza standings, and lit up the paddock debrief.
Coulthard, speaking on Channel 4, didn’t mince words. He acknowledged McLaren’s logic — the team believed Norris had earned track position before their own error flipped it — but didn’t love the optics. In his view, a rare fumble in the box is part of racing’s rough edges, just like engines blowing or elbows-out duels. Restoring a pre-stop order felt, to him, like shaping the result rather than letting it breathe.
“I get why they did it,” the former McLaren driver said, pointing to the team’s clear focus on the Constructors’ Championship. “But it still feels like the result was manipulated, and that sits uncomfortably.”
It’s hard not to see both sides. McLaren’s internal rulebook has been consistent since last year: prioritise the team, protect the points haul, keep the big trophy in sight. On Sunday, that produced the most clinical reading of the situation. They promised no undercut; they had a slow stop; they corrected for their own mistake. Within the regulations? Absolutely. Within their rights? Of course.
But sport isn’t just a spreadsheet, and Monza is a brutal theatre for grey calls. Piastri had track position, was told he could race after the handover, and yet the edict inevitably shaped the final two steps of the podium. For fans — and for racers like Coulthard — the appeal is seeing teammates sort it out with throttle and nerve, not with an engineer’s nudge from the pit wall.
The timing of the decision also matters. If “no undercut” was a guiding principle, perhaps that needed to be codified pre-race: if a team error flips the order, we’ll revert it. That kind of clarity at least defuses the in-car confusion we heard from Piastri and avoids the awkward optics of a mid-race reversal at the Temple of Speed.
None of this changes the bigger picture. Verstappen struck the win; McLaren banked heavy points; and the Woking outfit continues to look like the team most likely to walk out of 2025 with both titles. Even Coulthard, for all his discomfort, conceded as much. But the manner of this one will linger. It’s a trust exercise now, both inside the garage and with the audience. The papaya pair have been ferociously fair with each other this season; Sunday won’t blow that up, but it adds a line in the ledger.
Piastri did what was asked. Norris did what he always does and sent it to the flag. McLaren did what it believes will win a championship. And the rest of us? We just wanted to see the fight.
