Oscar Piastri has obliged by the wishes of his team to give second place to his teammate Lando Norris, as Max Verstappen cruised to victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
Verstappen was a class above the rest to win the race by nearly 20 seconds, but there was McLaren drama behind him.
Championship leader Piastri was asked to hand second place to Norris with five laps to go, after a bungled pit stop gifted the Australian the position.
Norris had spent most of the grand prix in second, with Piastri a distant third as both McLaren’s came in for their mandatory pit stop late in the race.
Norris was offered the first opportunity to pit, but he told the team they should pit Piastri to cover off any threat from fourth place Charles Leclerc.
Piastri’s stop at the end of lap 45 of 53 was perfect, but one lap later Norris struck disaster. He was stationary for four seconds longer than his teammate and championship rival, as a faulty wheel gun struggled with his front left tyre.
Piastri was able to jump Norris into second place with seven laps to go, but McLaren asked the Australian to give that position back.
“Oscar, this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando pass, then you are free to race,” race engineer Tom Stallard told Piastri.
Stallard’s reference to Hungary was when Norris was asked to give the lead of the race to Piastri after a similar pit stop sequence.
Piastri expressed his displeasure at team orders being called, suggesting slow pit stops are just part of motor racing.
“A slow pit stop was part of racing, so, I don’t really get what’s changed, here” Piastri told Stallard.
“But if you really want me to do it, I’ll do it.”
Follow all the action of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix on the live blog below.
Key Events
Italian Grand Prix race classification
That is all for the blog tonight
This concludes our live blog for tonight.
Max Verstappen was terrific in victory.
Meanwhile, the inner workings of McLaren were on show.
Oscar Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ championship is now 31 points over Lando Norris.
ABC Sport will return in a fortnight with another F1 live blog.
Join us on September 21 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Goodnight.
Max Verstappen celebrates in Monza
This was the fastest race in F1 history
After Max Verstappen set the fastest lap, by average speed, in the history of F1.
We now have the fastest completed F1 race ever.
Max Verstappen completed this race in one hour, 13 minutes, 24.325 seconds.
Some of your thoughts on Oscar Piastri being told to give second place to Lando Norris
If there was any doubt about the perceived bias of the McLaren team towards Norris that has now been removed!
– Mike
McLaren did Piastri dirty, he earned that second and should have kept it. Wasn’t his fault that Norris had a slow pit stop.
– Ramu
Versatappen speaks after winning at Monza
Here are some thoughts of Max Verstappen.
A great day for us. Lap 1 was a bit unlucky but after that we were flying. The car was really enjoyable, I could manage the pace and we pitted at the right time. Just fantastic execution by everyone.
Norris speaking after the Italian Grand Prix
Here are the thoughts of Lando Norris.
I tried to keep it even on the braking into Turn 1, I always know it is going to be a good fight with Max and it was. One of those weekends were we are a bit slower but a good fight and I enjoyed it.
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.
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.
Piastri speaking after finishing third
Here are some comments from Oscar Piastri.
Difficult start, maybe not my best couple of laps. Once I got past, a pretty lonely race from there. Happy with the points, I’ll take it.
We were staying out for Safety Cars if there were any, but Max got back into our pit window and the little incident at the end but it is okay.
Plenty to learn, happy going forwards and we’ll try and be better next weekend.
Max Verstappen wins Italian Grand Prix
Red Bull ace Max Verstappen has ended McLaren’s winning run in Formula 1, converting pole position into victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri has obliged the wishes of his team to give second place to his teammate Lando Norris.
Running behind Norris for the entirety of the grand prix, Piastri overtook his championship rival after the Brit suffered a slow pit stop due to a faulty wheel gun.
Piastri could have held onto the gifted second place and extended his lead in the drivers’ championship, but the Australian was asked to give that place back.
Lap 50: Piastri chasing Norris
Oscar Piastri had DRS down the main straight, but he was not close enough.
Norris was able to clear the one-second DRS range.
Lap 49: Piastri allows Norris to pass
Oscar Piastri has been asked to let Lando Norris pass, because of the pit stop disadvantage.
Piastri questions that decision, but he plays the team game.
Lap 46: Norris pits AND IT’S SLOW
McLaren now calls in Lando Norris.
IT’S A SLOW STOP.
McLaren had a problem with the front left tyre.
OSCAR PIASTRI IS INTO SECOND!
Norris was offered the option to pit first, and he didn’t take it.
But Piastri’s pit stop was perfect, and Norris’s was awful.
Lap 45: Oscar Piastri pits for soft tyres
There was some discussion.
Lando was given the option to pit, but he has said he wants Piastri to pit first, as long as the Australian cannot undercut him.
Piastri has new soft tyres.
Lap 44: Max Verstappen is flying in third (net lead)
Max Verstappen is the fastest driver on track.
He is closing in on both McLarens ahead, and both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri still need to pit.
Verstappen is cruising to victory with 10 laps to go.
10 laps to go
Lap 43: Piastri continues to close gap on Norris
Oscar Piastri is much faster than Lando Norris at the moment.
In the past five laps, the Australian has reduced the gap to his teammate from over six seconds down to less than four.
Norris being in front means he gets the priority to pit first.
Lap 41: Sainz and Bearman collide and spin
Carlos Sainz (WIlliams) and Ollie Beaman (Haas) has collided and spun on track.
Good news for everyone, they were able to keep their engines running and they have carried on.
Lap 40: Piastri starting to close the gap to Norris
Lando Norris has been comfortably ahead of Oscar Piastri this evening.
For about 20 laps, the gap between the McLaren drivers has been around six seconds.
It’s down to 5.1 seconds.
Lap 39: McLaren keep both drivers out
Lando Norris leads the grand prix, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
Neither McLaren driver has pitted yet.
The net race leader is Max Verstappen, who is third.
Lap 37: Max Verstappen pits
Max Verstappen has come into the pits.
He was able to take those medium tyres to lap 37.
The Red Bull ace has a new set of HARD tyres on his car.
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