Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Formula 1, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris
Ryan Smart
McLaren's controversial decision to swap Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris during the Italian Grand Prix could yet have ramifications beyond this year's Drivers' Championship.
After pitting on lap 47 at Monza, Norris emerged behind team-mate Piastri and into third place after a slow stop.
The pair were on different strategies and, had Norris' stop gone as planned, he would have come out of the pits comfortably ahead of the Australian.
McLaren subsequently asked Piastri to let Norris through, before allowing the pair to race to the end.
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The latter instruction made little difference as Norris had far newer tyres and, coupled with his new track position advantage, was never likely to lose out on second barring a mistake.
The Grand Prix was comfortably won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with Norris and Piastri completing the podium.
After Norris was forced to retire from the previous Dutch Grand Prix due to a chassis-related oil leak, thus losing 25 points in the title battle to Piastri, the result at Monza at least allowed him to claw back some ground.
The Brit is now 31 points behind his title rival with eight races remaining in the season.
Although Piastri was diplomatic post-race about McLaren's decision to swap him with Norris, his radio message at the time appeared to suggest he had his own doubts.
The Australian told race engineer Tom Stallard: "We said that a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don't really get what's changed here. But if you really want to do it, I'll do it."
Piastri signed a new long-term contract with McLaren at the beginning of 2025.
Although contract details were not disclosed by McLaren - as a general rule, most other teams do likewise - 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve claimed in April that Piastri's deal contains a specific clause relating to the Drivers' Championship battle.
He told CardPlayer: "They cannot give Lando priority over Oscar because of the contract. He has a contract that protects him.
"As long as both drivers can win the championship, there won't be team orders unless there's something significantly big for the constructors' title or if one of them is having an issue in a race like last year."
Both Piastri and Norris, though, have denied that such a clause is in place.
Norris told reporters after Monza (via The Race): "Team is number one, then drivers are second. That's how it works."
Piastri, meanwhile, added: "We want it [to have success] for as long as possible and protecting the people includes the people doing the pit stops. It's not a very nice feeling [to make a mistake in the pits], I would imagine."
And of course, McLaren would no doubt argue that their decision wasn't a team order in the traditional sense, given that the race order at the time of the swap wasn't directly caused by either driver.
Had Piastri been lapping considerably slower than Norris, it would have been a different matter - but either way, the incident may well set a precedent that goes beyond Monza and into the rest of the season, where more key decisions will surely have to made.
For now, though, it appears that there not be too much fallout heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.