Damon Hill takes a cheeky dig at McLaren's Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri mid-race switch

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill took an indirect dig at the McLaren team for asking Oscar Piastri to swap positions with Lando Norris after the latter suffered a slow pit stop at the Italian GP. Hill joked that he was worried about Renault asking him to give back his winner's medal from the 1993 Italian GP, as he won amid an engine failure for teammate Alain Prost.

While Max Verstappen claimed a brilliant victory at the Italian GP on Sunday, it was the McLaren team who managed to grab most of the headlines towards the end of the race.

Neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri had any answers for Verstappen and Red Bull's pace at Monza, so the team opted to stay out as long as possible in the hope of a safety car. But when the team decided to pit both their drivers just a few laps from the end of the race, all sorts of drama unfolded.

Piastri managed to undercut Norris as the latter had a six-second stationary time on his pit stop compared to Piastri's sub-two-second stop. But the McLaren team immediately asked the Aussie driver to give the position back to Norris.

Many, including Piastri, questioned the tactic from the team, but the driver still obliged and let his teammate through. After the race, the 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill took a cheeky dig at the whole situation. He wrote on X:

"In 1993 I won the Italian GP (in part 😉) because Alain Prost's Renault engine blew up. I'm now worried Renault will ask me to give the result back to him! 😬 What do you make of McLaren's policy of instructing a driver to sacrifice a guaranteed result in favour of his rival?"

Damon Hill

@HillF1

In 1993 I won the Italian GP (in part 😉) because Alain Prost's Renault engine blew up. I'm now worried Renault will ask me to give the result back to him! 😬 What do you make of McLaren's policy of instructing a driver to sacrifice a guaranteed result in favour of his rival?

Oscar Piastri claimed that a slow pit stop was part of racing before he eventually decided to let his teammate though on the team's request. Lando Norris finished the race just ahead of him in P2, subsequently cutting his championship lead by three points.

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Lando Norris reacts to slow pit stop at the Italian GP

Lando Norris after the Italian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Speaking after the Italian GP, Lando Norris claimed that he had no idea why his pit stop was as slow as it was. But the driver added that every member in the team makes a mistake now and again.

Speaking in the post-race interview, Norris explained what he understood about his slow pit stop in Monza.

"No idea [with the pit stop] but I guess every now and then we make mistakes as a team, and today was one of them," he said.

Speaking about the race in general, the driver claimed that P2 was the best he could have done given Max Verstappen's pace.

"One of those weekends were we are a bit slower but a good fight and I enjoyed it," said Norris.

"I did everything I could today, I couldn't do a lot more. I tried to fight with Max but he came out on top and deserved it," he added.

Lando Norris' slow pit stop was caused by a problem with the front left tire of his McLaren. The front gun man had not screwed the tires in properly and had to take multiple attempts at getting it right, causing the driver valuable time in the pits.