Brundle: McLaren driver swap in Italian GP ‘the right thing to do’

Sky F1 commentator and F1 veteran Martin Brundle has thrown his weight behind McLaren’s decision to order Oscar Piastri to hand second place back to Lando Norris in the Italian Grand Prix, calling it the “right thing to do all round.”

The drama unfolded when McLaren opted to pit Piastri first to cover Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was a threat in the closing stages. Piastri’s stop was a swift 1.9 seconds, but Norris, the leading McLaren driver at the time, suffered a costly delay due to an issue with his front-left wheel.

The result saw the Briton rejoin the track behind Piastri, prompting McLaren to instruct the Australian to yield the position back to his teammate.

The move, which carried a potential six-point swing in the championship, drew scrutiny from fans and pundits alike, but Brundle – writing in his post-race Sky Sports F1 column – argued it was the right call, while outlining the complexity of McLaren’s predicament.

“McLaren now had a problem,” he wrote. “The team had swapped pit stops around and hurt Norris through no fault of his own other than being compliant with a team request.

“That 1.9-second stop could and should have been his normally.”

The pit-stop strategy, intended to protect McLaren’s race position, inadvertently disadvantaged Norris, and Brundle believed the team’s decision to restore the original order was justified.

“They asked Piastri to yield and swap positions. He was unsurprisingly reluctant, as that’s a six-point swing in the championship battle with Norris,” he continued.

“But he complied, and I believe that was the right thing to do all round, as happened in reverse in Hungary last year.”

“The Cohesion of This Team”

Brundle argued that McLaren’s strength lies in its ability to keep harmony between two highly competitive drivers, even when tough calls are made.

“If Norris had, for example, run long in his stop and scattered his mechanics, or it had simply been a slow stop, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles,” he said.

“But there were a number of aspects to this scenario, including prior discussions and agreements. The cohesion of this team is what’s making it so dominant this season, and both drivers are smart enough to realize that for both now and into the future.

“Don’t judge either of them for playing the team game; all the other teams on the grid would kill to have two great drivers working in tandem for the good of the team like this, while also racing the wheels off the cars and doing their best to beat each other.

“At least Piastri did gain the advantage of now being in Norris’ DRS rear wing open range, but Norris continued to have the pace.”

Although McLaren told Piastri he was free to attack after ceding position, Norris had enough speed to hold onto second place behind race winner Max Verstappen.

For Brundle, the controversy should not overshadow the bigger picture: McLaren’s ability to manage two ambitious title contenders without sacrificing unity.