Max Verstappen laughs at McLaren’s pit stop tragedy between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

McLaren orchestrated a swap between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the dying phases of the Italian GP, which left Max Verstappen laughing at the papaya squad for the way they dealt with the situation at hand. The Aussie had moved past Norris after the latter had a slow pitstop, leading the British team to order Piastri to allow his teammate back into second place.

The 2025 Italian GP began with Verstappen and Norris having a heart-stopping moment at the start of the race. Though the pair was able to continue in the 53-lap race, Norris soon fell prey to Red Bull's low drag setup as the Dutchman moved past him on lap four and didn't look back since.

While Norris and Piastri remained in second and third, respectively, for the majority of the race, Piastri was brought in first for a set of soft tires, where he had a 1.9-second pitstop. Moreover, on the following lap, his teammate was brought into the pit box, but he suffered a slow stop, leading him to lose ground to the championship leader in the grand scheme of things.

To remain fair, McLaren choreographed a position swap between its two drivers. This information was soon conveyed by Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, aka GP, to his driver. But the Dutchman was left amused by how Norris was allowed to move past his teammate, despite Piastri not having any direct influence in his slow stop, as he said over the radio:

"Ha! Just because he (Lando Norris) had a slow stop?"

Subsequently, GP replied:

"It's not our business, but I guess it keeps it fair between the drivers in terms of the championship. You focus on the road ahead as well, please."

Meanwhile, the papaya duo were unable to overcome Max Verstappen's pace advantage in Monza, as he claimed his third race victory of the season.

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Max Verstappen was in great spirits after winning the Italian GP

Red Bull's Max Verstappen after winning the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Italy - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen returned to the top step of the podium after a hiatus of close to four months. Moreover, this victory came after a stellar drive for him as he kept the McLaren drivers at arm's length during the race.

Sharing his thoughts on claiming his 66th race win of his F1 career, he said in the post-race interview hosted by Davide Valsecchi on the F1TV broadcast:

"It was a great day for us. Lap one was a bit unlucky but after that we were flying. The car was, for me, really enjoyable, I could manage the pace quite well through that first stint, and we pitted at the right time, and with the hard tires at the end, you can push a bit more, they're a bit more resilient. Just a fantastic execution by the whole team, the whole weekend we were on it and it's of course super enjoyable to win here."

Max Verstappen's victory has reduced his championship deficit from 104 points to 94 points as Oscar Piastri remains the championship leader up front.