Piastri has no regrets over Monza team orders that marked the start of his 2025 collapse

Oscar Piastri insists he has no regrets about obeying McLaren’s team orders at Monza in 2024, despite the incident marking the beginning of a second half of the season in which he lost the championship to Lando Norris and finished third overall behind Max Verstappen.

Asked at the post-qualifying press conference ahead of this year’s Italian Grand Prix to reflect on the episode with the benefit of hindsight, Piastri was unequivocal. “I wouldn’t change it,” he said. “How I responded, how I handled last year — I wouldn’t change it. So, yeah, nothing to change.”

The original incident came during the 2024 Monza race, where Piastri had been running behind Norris for much of the distance before a slow pitstop for the Briton handed the Australian the position. McLaren subsequently instructed Piastri to return the place, citing what team principal Andrea Stella described as the team’s internal “papaya rules.” The order sparked a paddock debate over whether the team was affording Norris preferential treatment.

At the time, Piastri held a 34-point lead over Norris in the drivers’ standings, having arrived at Monza as the title favourite following Norris’s retirement at Zandvoort. The season unravelled from that point, with a combination of poor performances, mistakes, and team decisions ultimately costing him the championship.

Piastri was careful not to single out Monza as the decisive moment. “I don’t think it was one thing that led to the back end of last year being difficult,” he said. “It was a number of different things week to week.”

His struggles have carried into the current season. Piastri has not won a race since before Monza 2024 and has visibly lacked pace relative to Norris across much of 2025. Stella has indicated that the issues are linked to Piastri’s driving style, suggesting the Australian needs to adopt techniques that do not come naturally to him — particularly at low-grip circuits. With the 2026 regulations set to produce cars with less downforce, those challenges may persist.

Piastri, however, pushes back on the idea of a single recurring problem, and pointed to an encouraging qualifying performance at Zandvoort two weeks ago as evidence that he is beginning to find more pace.