Team principal Stella on the incident between Norris and Piastri: “It looked dramatic”

Amidst all the in-team manoeuvres and tense moments – particularly at Mercedes and also at Ferrari – the in-team battle at McLaren during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza almost went unnoticed. With just a few kilometres to go (lap 51 of 53), Lando Norris rumbled across the grass whilst battling his Papaya-coloured team-mate Oscar Piastri, kicking up a cloud of dust. He managed to bring his car back under control, and the incident had no further consequences. Norris, the 2025 World Champion, simply radioed: “He forced me off the track. That’s very dangerous.” In the end, Piastri let Norris through, and the Brit finished fourth ahead of his team-mate.

“We let them race”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said after the race: “Overall, it was a positive and strong weekend for the team. The race was incredibly exciting and entertaining, and both Lando and Oscar demonstrated the same high level of performance throughout. What we saw today was a good, hard-fought race that provided the fans with a thrilling spectacle. We let them race.” And that’s when the aforementioned hair-raising incident occurred on lap 51, in which the two team-mates got closer to one another than anyone involved would have liked.

It looked dramatic, but it was harmless

Team principal Stella commented conciliatorily on the incident afterwards: “Although Lando’s skid into the grass looked dramatic on live TV, our analysis suggests it was harmless. This philosophy can be risky, and we will assess it carefully, whilst always prioritising the team’s interests.” The much-cited ‘Papaya Rules’, then.

Overall, the Italian engineer drew a conciliatory conclusion from his home race, which his McLaren protégés finished just off the podium in 4th (Lando Norris) and 5th (Oscar Piastri) places: “Today’s race was of a higher standard than qualifying, where we paid the price for our sixth and eighth grid positions in a field where overtaking is difficult. The slipstream and energy management here mean that even faster cars struggle to pull away, and as Mercedes has a clear performance advantage, we weren’t in the running for victory.”

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