"It's bullsh**": Former McLaren IndyCar driver condemns F1 team's controversial Italian GP driver swap

McLaren F1 made a controversial call at the 2025 Italian GP, where it asked its drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, to swap positions after a slow pitstop for the Briton. Former Arrow McLaren driver Alexander Rossi came out and slammed the Papaya team's call at Monza, as he explained the reasons behind it.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were running P2 and P3, respectively, when McLaren made the call to pit the drivers. The Australian driver was pitted first, as Norris was told that he wouldn't be under threat from his teammates' undercut.

However, as Norris pitted on the very next lap, he had a slow pitstop and came out behind his teammate. The team then gave Oscar Piastri the team orders to swap positions, which was first retaliated by the Australian, but he eventually complied with the instructions and let his teammate by.

Former Arrow McLaren driver Alexander Rossi, on his podcast Off Track with Hinch and Rossi, condemned the Papaya team's swap of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. He came out and said,

“My take on it is it's bulls**t.” (24:00 onwards)

Rossi then explained what exactly happened and that McLaren put themselves in a tough spot. The IndyCar driver also detailed how McLaren referenced the 2024 Hungarian GP, where an undercut from Norris while Piatri was leading led to a similar situation, but the team asked to swap the drivers.

However, this situation was different in the fact that it wasn't a strategic call, but a slow pitstop. Adding details about the controversial call, Rossi said,

“Where I think it's bulls**t is exactly what I just said. Slow pit stops are a part of racing. This wasn't a strategy call that ended up, you know, a strategy call that was used to protect.”

“This was a purely a team failure in pit lane, not a Lando failure. He did nothing wrong. And Oscar paid the penalty for it.”

“This was a slow stop that we all live with day in and day out. It happens to everyone in every form of motorsports every single year. That shouldn't be a position reversal. End of discussion. That's my take.”

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IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin calls out McLaren for the Italian GP driver swap

Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin took to the social media platform X after the Italian GP and called out McLaren for the team radio, which led to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris swapping positions. The IndyCar star detailed how a slow pitstop was a fault on the team's end and that it shouldn't be up to the Australian to make up for it. He wrote,

“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

Former F1TV host Will Buxton, who currently works as IndyCar's play-by-play announcer, came out and supported Scott McLaughlin in the comment section of the said tweet.