Toto Wolff warns McLaren about troublesome precedent set after Italian GP driver swap

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has warned McLaren that the precedent it has set with the controversial team orders at the 2025 F1 Italian GP is "very difficult to undo." The Woking-based team asked Oscar Piastri in P2 to let teammate Lando Norris by in the closing stages of the race.

The team chose to enforce team orders because Norris was running ahead of Piastri the whole race before McLaren fumbled a pit stop on lap 46. The team pitted Piastri on lap 45, with a promise to Norris that he won't lose P2 to an undercut, and was called in to pit on lap 46.

Unfortunately, the right front tire-changer of Lando Norris' crew had a problem fitting the tire, leading to a slow 5.9-second pit stop, which handed Oscar Piastri P2. On lap 49, McLaren asked the Australian driver to give his teammate the place back, to which he obliged.

If the swap wasn't between two drivers' championship contenders, it would've gone under the radar. But because it was, it stirred a controversy in the paddock and on social media. Toto Wolff weighed in on the issue with a stern message for McLaren.

"You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo. What if the team does another mistake and it's not a pit stop? Do you switch them around? But then equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up, lose the points, is not fair either," the Mercedes boss said via The Race.

Toto Wolff, who has witnessed intra-team championship battles at Mercedes, like Lewis Hamilton vs Nico Rosberg during F1's turbo-hybrid era, highlighted how this McLaren situation will only escalate as the 2025 season nears its close.

"We are going to get our response of whether that was right today towards the end of the season when it heats up."

Lando Norris earned 18 points for finishing P2, while Oscar Piastri earned 15 for P3. This brought the gap between them in the drivers' championship down from 34 to 31 points.

Toto Wolff claims Max Verstappen made all other drivers look "silly" with dominant win at Monza

Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium after winning the 2025 F1 Italian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen showed signs of his 2023 F1 dominance with a scintillating drive to win the Italian Grand Prix. Though he had to give the race lead to Lando Norris after cutting Turn 1 on lap 1, he retook P1 on lap 4 and converted his pole position into a dominant win, finishing a mammoth 19 seconds ahead of the McLaren driver.

Toto Wolff kept it straightforward in the post-race interviews, speaking highly of Verstappen, who he was interested in signing to Mercedes for 2026.

"Today, one driver made everyone else look silly," the Mercedes Team Principal said via Motorsport, referring to the Red Bull driver's win.

Wolff then assessed Mercedes' subpar showing at Monza, with George Russell finishing in P5 and home hero Andrea Kimi Antonell, who lost several positions in quick succession at the start of the 53-lap race, finishing in P9.

"Overall, we weren’t competitive over the weekend. A fifth and an eighth place are absolutely not satisfactory. I don’t think, with our current setup, we have a car that we can consistently drive onto the podium," the 53-year-old added.

Toto Wolff acknowledged that Antonelli made "too many mistakes" while Russell "pushed too hard" and burned up his tires trying to overtake Charles Leclerc for P4.