Martin Brundle defends McLaren drivers after Italian GP team orders: “Don't judge them”

Martin Brundle has leapt to the defence of McLaren after their late team orders at the Italian Grand Prix, insisting fans shouldn’t “judge” Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri.

McLaren were on course for a quiet end to their Italian GP up until the pit stops.

While the lead driver – in this case Norris – usually gets pit stop priority, McLaren decided to stop Piastri first.

Their argument was that they needed to cover off Charles Leclerc behind, who was closing to within Piastri’s pit stop range.

However, by doing this, it allowed Piastri to undercut his teammate, despite running three seconds behind Norris.

A slow stop for Norris meant that Piastri got ahead, forcing McLaren to intervene.

McLaren felt that as the slow pit stop was entirely out of Norris’ control, it was only fair to make Piastri give the place back.

DOWNLOAD CRASH F1 PODCAST HERE

Piastri obliged, despite questioning it over team radio.

Since the end of the race, McLaren have been criticised for “manipulating” the race result.

Writing in his post-race column for Sky Sports F1, Brundle explained why neither driver should be “judged” for following team orders.

“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,” Brundle wrote.

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

Norris and Piastri “smart enough”

It’s not the first time McLaren have been forced to intervene with team orders.

Oscar Piastri’s maiden F1 victory at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix was overshadowed by a similar situation.

This time, Norris was stopped first to cover off Lewis Hamilton.

Norris rejoined ahead of Piastri for the race victory at the Hungaroring.

McLaren had to effectively beg Norris on team radio to let Piastri by.

Norris eventually followed the team’s instructions, giving Piastri his first F1 grand prix victory.

Brundle believes that both drivers are “smart” to play the team game given they will need McLaren on their side as the drivers’ title battle continues to intensify in the final eight rounds.

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

“That 1.9-second stop could and should have been his normally. 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, but he complied and I believe that was the right thing to do all round, as happened in reverse in Hungary last year.

“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.

“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 realise that for both now and into the future.”