Why Brundle and Bernie are split over McLaren’s Monza team orders call
Bernie Ecclestone and Martin Brundle have different opinions on McLaren's team orders
McLaren’s decision to use team orders at Monza was the “right thing” according to Martin Brundle, but Bernie Ecclestone says it sounds like the team “prefers a World Champion named Lando Norris”.
It has highlighted the divide in opinion, both inside and outside the Formula 1 paddock, in the wake of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Was McLaren’s team order fair to both drivers?
McLaren courted controversy at the Italian Grand Prix when the team ordered Oscar Piastri to give second place to Lando Norris after he lost it through a slow pit stop.
Running second and third behind Max Verstappen, Piastri was given the go-ahead to pit first after McLaren assured Norris, who was ahead of his teammate on the track and would therefore usually have priority, that he would not be undercut.
However, a 5.9s pit stop for the Briton meant he was.
Norris was stationary four seconds longer than his teammate, which meant he came out behind Piastri on the track with the Australian then told to cede the position.
“We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race,” said his race engineer Tom Stallard.
The championship leader briefly tried to make his case, arguing: “I mean, we said that a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here.”
However, once he got the second request, he moved over for Norris, who went on to finish the race in second place, two seconds ahead of Piastri.
The call, though, irked not only Piastri’s fans and sections of the international media, but also paddock personalities with former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone crying foul.
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“They talk about fairness all the time,” he complained to Blick, “But is it fair for Piastri if he is punished for a mistake made by the team? No.”
He went on to accuse the Woking team of favouring Norris in the championship fight.
“You slowly get the feeling that McLaren prefers a World Champion named Lando Norris,” continued the 94-year-old. “Mistakes such as missed pit stops or engine damage as well as suspension breaks have become rarer, but they are part of the sport.”
McLaren, though, has insisted it was a case of “principles” and “racing values”, team principal Andrea Stella saying: “We thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation, pre-existing at the pit stop, and then let the guys race.”
Former F1 driver turned commentator Brundle agrees that it was the only fair call to make given Norris wasn’t at fault for his slow pit stop.
“I believe that was the right thing to do all round, as happened in reverse in Hungary last year,” he wrote in his post-Monza column for Sky F1.
“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.
“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.”
One person who knows all about intra-team championship battles and team orders is Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Sitting on the fence in a situation where he says there is “no right and there is no wrong”, the Austrian warned McLaren that a dangerous precedent had been set.
Speaking with PlanetF1.com and other publications at Monza,” he said: “You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo. What if the team does another mistake and it’s not a pit stop, do you switch them around?
“But then equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up lose the points is not fair either.
“So I think we are going to get our response of whether that was right today towards the end of the season when it heats up.”
Piastri continues to lead the Drivers’ standings with Norris taking three points off his teammate in Italy to close the gap to 31 points.
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