Andrea Stella, the Team Principal of McLaren Racing, has addressed the discourse surrounding the team’s decision to swap its drivers during the 2025 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He stated that he was unsurprised by the reaction, but remains secured in the team’s operational approach.
The team coordinated a position change between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the closing stages of the race at Monza after a slow pit stop for Norris allowed the Australian driver to undercut him. This generated significant debate among the fans and pundits of F1.
When asked if the amount of “noise” since the event was surprising, Stella was clear. He commented, “No. No surprise, really. I think noise around racing situations is natural. Formula 1 is a very popular sport.”
Stella elaborated that the team is open to external feedback, provided it is constructive. He continued, “What’s important for us is that comments are respectful. And when they are respectful, we welcome them, we listen, we take them into account – even if ultimately what counts for us is not the external noise, but what we make of it internally and how we set ourselves to keep going racing.”
Internal review confirms racing principles
Following every race weekend, the papaya team conducts a thorough review of its operations and decisions. The situation at Monza was no exception. According to Stella, the post-race analysis of the Monza swap only served to validate the team’s actions and reinforce its established protocols for the future.
“Like after every race weekend, we review how we operatre, the decisions we make, like the driving and so on,” Stella explained. “We did the same after Monza, and we could confirm that the way we operated is what we intended, is what we can confirm for the future. So while we remain open and attentive to anything that happens, I think that situation gave us a possibility to confirm our approach.”
Addressing fan concerns that such moves are overly decided from the pit wall, Stella reiterated that team decisions are based on principles agreed upon with the drivers beforehand. The swap was a direct result of a pit stop sequence that mirrored a similar situation in the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“From the pit wall, we execute what we agree with our drivers, which ultimately becomes our racing principles and approach,” he stated. “In that situation[…] because we sequenced the two cars in a certain way at the pit stop, going with the car behind – then we required a swap[…] the situation that we had with the sequence in terms of strategy is the same as Hungary, and we acted consistently with the situation we had in Hungary.”
