IndyCar's Scott McLaughlin baffled by McLaren's "wild decision" to swap Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at Italian GP

IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin has given his honest take on McLaren's controversial team orders to swap Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the closing stages of F1's Italian Grand Prix. The duo was set to secure P2 and P3, with Max Verstappen, who won for the third time at Monza, 20 seconds clear in the lead.

Norris ran in P2 for most of the race, with Piastri behind him in P3, but never in contention to challenge for position. Surprisingly, the Medium tires were good enough to last until the end of the 53-lap race, but F1's rules mandated a pit stop for a tire change.

On lap 45, McLaren and Norris had an exchange about the pit stop strategy. The Briton was informed that Oscar Piastri would pit at the end of the lap for Softs, and he would be pitted a lap later. Lando Norris agreed because the team promised Piastri wouldn't benefit from an undercut.

While that promise stayed, Norris suffered an unusually slow pit stop of 5.9 seconds, with his front right tire changer requiring three attempts to nail the tire. This gifted Piastri P2. On lap 49, the McLaren pit wall intervened with team orders to correct the goof-up, and the Aussie let his teammate through to P2.

Scott McLaughlin explicitly stated that he had no reason to give Norris the position. The Team Penske driver shared a clear explanation in an X post, writing:

"If OP gets Lando on undercut to protect 3rd position, I get swapping them back around after that sequence. But if the team makes the mistake, that’s not on OP to sort their stuff up. FWIW I think Lando passes him anyway on pace, but that’s a wild decision from the pit wall. IMO"

Scott McLaughlin

@smclaughlin93

If OP gets Lando on undercut to protect 3rd position, I get swapping them back around after that sequence. But if the team makes the mistake, that’s not on OP to sort their stuff up. FWIW I think Lando passes him anyway on pace, but that’s a wild decision from the pit wall. IMO

Fortunately, neither McLaren driver was upset in the post-race interviews. Oscar Piastri gave a succinct reply, but chuckled through it, and Lando Norris was all smiles, too.

This Italian GP swap situation was the opposite of the 2024 Hungarian GP. Oscar Piastri was leading en route to his first F1 win, but McLaren's strategic mishap accidentally gave Lando Norris a successful undercut. The team had to step in to ask them to swap positions, which overshadowed Piastri's first career win.

This isn't the first time Scott McLaughlin has criticized McLaren's team orders and the handling of its drivers.

Scott McLaughlin criticized McLaren for enforcing team orders for Norris and Piastri at the 2025 Australian GP

Oscar Piastri with Lando Norris at the F1 Australian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Scott McLaughlin had hilariously called out McLaren's team orders at the 2025 F1 season opener in Australia. Lando Norris, who qualified in pole position, was leading the race for the most part with teammate Oscar Piastri behind him.

On lap 29 of 57, McLaren asked Piastri not to attack Norris for the race lead, which didn't go down well with the home hero, who insisted he was "faster." Surprisingly, the decision was reversed when the gap between the duo fell to around three seconds. Eventually, Piastri finished in P9 after a costly spin that beached him in the grass.

However, the team order controversy took center stage on social media, with Scott McLaughlin weighing in on it. He wrote:

"Great for Lando, but feel for OP. Home race getting told to hold pozzy, bit rich, first race of the year. I would’ve unplugged the radio, sorry @benbretzman 😂😂 " he wrote, tagging his Team Penske IndyCar race engineer in the post.

Scott McLaughlin

@smclaughlin93

Great for Lando, but feel for OP. Home race getting told to hold pozzy, bit rich, first race of the year. I would’ve unplugged the radio, sorry @benbretzman 😂😂

The 2025 Italian Grand Prix weekend belonged to Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver took pole in qualifying at Monza with a new track record of 1:18.792, which was also the fastest lap in F1 history in terms of average speed (164.465 mph or 264.682 kmph).