McLaren given team orders warning from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after Italian GP

Oscar Piastri was ordered to move aside for Lando Norris (Luca Bruno/AP)

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has warned McLaren they have set a precedent which is “very difficult to undo” after ordering Oscar Piastri aside for world championship rival Lando Norris in Italy on Sunday.

A slow pit-stop for Norris saw him drop from second to third behind team-mate Piastri before McLaren told their drivers to swap positions.

McLaren’s contentious decision allowed Norris to move within 31 points of Piastri with eight rounds remaining.

ICYMI, here's what happened with McLaren towards the end of the race 👀#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/rnRMl6J1xs

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Norris, who was booed by the Tifosi as he collected his runners-up trophy on the Monza podium, said it was “pretty stupid” to suggest a precedent had now been laid down by McLaren.

However, Wolff, who oversaw Lewis Hamilton’s fractious intra-team rivalry with Nico Rosberg, said: “There is no right and there is no wrong, and I’m curious to see how that pans out. You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo and to manage.

“What if the team makes another mistake and it’s not a pit-stop, do you switch them around? But equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up lose the points, is not fair either.

“So we are going to get our response of whether that was right today towards the end of the season when it heats up.

“For us, we had two different animals in the car in Lewis and Nico. They were two fierce combatants that took no prisoners racing against each other, and at times it was very difficult to manage for the team.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has questioned McLaren’s decision in Monza (David Davies/PA)

“Lewis was a world champion, and we had two lions in the car that went at each other’s throats. I don’t see that at McLaren.”

Wolff’s Mercedes trail McLaren by 357 points in the constructors’ standings. George Russell started and finished fifth at the Temple of Speed but Kimi Antonelli crossed the line in ninth, having begun the race three places higher.

He was handed a five-second penalty for squeezing Williams’ Alex Albon off the track. Earlier in the weekend, he beached his Mercedes in the gravel in second practice.

The Italian 19-year-old, who replaced Hamilton at Mercedes, has scored just three times in his last 10 appearances, and is 128 points behind team-mate Russell in the standings.

Kimi Antonelli started sixth but finished ninth at the Italian Grand Prix (David Davies/PA)

And when asked about Antonelli’s display, Wolff said: “Underwhelming. You cannot put the car in the gravel, and expect to be there, and all of the race was underwhelming.

“It doesn’t change anything in terms of my support and confidence and his future because I believe he is going to very, very, very good but today was underwhelming.

“It is about freeing him up. He is a great driver and has unbelievable and natural talent. It is all there. But we need to get rid of the ballast and baggage of previous races.”