Oscar Piastri has shown his sportsmanship by giving a position back to Lando Norris in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix, allowing his McLaren teammate to close the gap in the world title fight.
A decision to allow Norris to pass him for second place sees Piastri’s lead cut to 31 points, down from 34, with eight races left in the championship.
It came as a reversal of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, when team orders saw Norris pass Piastri but then give the position (and race win) back after being told by the team repeatedly to do so.
The difference, though, was that in Hungary McLaren gave Norris the undercut which allowed him to pass Piastri. In contrast this was bad luck with a slow pit stop, much like the bad luck of Norris’ retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix, but Piastri was told to make amends for it.
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The swap came with less than 10 laps remaining of an uneventful grand prix at Monza, won by Max Verstappen.
Norris and Piastri were running comfortably second and third and took their one and only stop to cover off the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had pitted much earlier, behind them.
Piastri boxed first and Norris followed a lap later, having been told Piastri needed to pit to cover Leclerc and accepting there would not be an undercut which took his second place away from him.
But an issue with the wheel gun cost Norris around four seconds in the pits and Piastri passed him for second place.
The Australian was then told to give the position back and questioned the move: “We said a slow pit stop was part of racing. So I don’t really get what’s changed here?”
But he accepted the team’s request and allowed Norris through.
The pair finished second and third from there.
“Appreciate that was pretty painful in a way, but you’ve done the right thing,” his race engineer told him.
Verstappen on team radio was staggered McLaren asked Piastri to make the move, quipping: “Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?!”
Piastri was strangely barely questioned about the decision by the post-race interviewer, only saying: “Little incident at the end, but that’s OK.”
NBA superstar Joel Embiid tweeted post-race: “These papaya rules are something else lmao….. Oscar is a better man than me.”
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