Ex-Red Bull Insider Hits Back at 'Embarrassing' Post About Lando Norris

A former Red Bull team member has hit back at an 'embarrassing' post about Lando Norris' pit stop at the Italian Grand Prix.

The race at Monza was on the whole a quiet affair, as Max Verstappen cruised to victory, winning by nearly 20 seconds from Lando Norris.

Although the Englishman cut the gap in the Drivers' Standings to his teammate Oscar Piastri, he still trails the Australian by 31 points.

But the world championship battle briefly looked to have taken another twist following Norris' disastrous pit stop during the race.

Although Norris was running ahead of Piastri on track, McLaren extended both drivers' opening stints on medium tyres.

That strategy left Piastri vulnerable to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who had stopped earlier.

To cover the threat, Norris agreed to let Piastri stop first, on the assurance that he would not lose track position following the stops.

But there was an issue with Norris' front-left tyre, which meant the stop dragged on for 5.9 seconds, compared to Piastri was only stopped for 1.9 seconds.

The delay meant Norris rejoined the track behind his teammate.

Lando Norris at the Monza circuit (Image: MARCO BERTORELLO / Contributor via Getty)

McLaren acted quickly to rectify the situation, asking Piastri over team radio to hand the place back.

Although he was reluctant, the Australian complied, and Norris came home to finish second.

The drama sparked debate online, with some fans expressing frustration at the McLaren pit crew.

One user on X wrote in a now-deleted post: "No we seriously need to locate that front left wheel gun man and get him fired, you are earning £350,000 a YEAR, more than 95% of the world's population for a maximum of a three-second work shift every two weeks."

The comment infuriated Calum Nicholas, who used to work at Red Bull as a mechanic.

Max Verstappen celebrates Italian GP success (Image: Mark Thompson / Staff via Getty)

He replied: "This is why so few people in the paddock interact on here by the way. Bs opinions like this. It’s embarrassing.

"Average salary for an F1 Tech is closer to £60k by the way.

"The average working week is about 70 hours. Most fly economy, and nobody gets paid more for being on the pit crew."

Although the McLaren team and both of their drivers defended the decision to swap the cars, it did not receive unanimous backing throughout F1.

Verstappen reacted with surprise when he was told of the call as he replied: "Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?"

Although Piastri obliged this time, with just eight races left in the season, it will be interesting if McLaren can maintain harmony within the team.

With Verstappen sitting 96 points behind world championship leader Piastri, the fight for the championship looks to be a straight shootout between the two McLarens.