“Both routes were bad.”
The quandary that McLaren confronted within the closing laps of the Italian Grand Prix- and whether or not they made the suitable resolution to reverse the order of their drivers after a gradual pit-stop for Lando Norris – continues to be debated within the days after the newest chapter was written within the story of 2025’s world title struggle.
That dialogue continues on the newest version of The F1 Present podcast, through which 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg joins his Sky Sports activities F1 colleagues Simon Lazenby and David Croft to debate all the main speaking factors from the Monza weekend, from McLaren’s crew techniques, to Max Verstappen’s dominant return to successful methods and Kimi Antonelli’s struggles at Mercedes
On McLaren, Rosberg believes there was no “right or wrong” approach for the title-leading crew to deal with the scenario however does imagine it was in the end the truthful name for them to instruct Oscar Piastri to present again the place he had inadvertently inherited from Norris’ pit delays.
“A lot of people will not like it, a lot of people will think it makes sense,” stated Rosberg of McLaren’s lap-49 change.
“I used to be completely happy they did that as a result of with my hat that I’ve on, I need a super-exciting Formulation 1 championship till the very finish.
“So, I used to be completely happy that in that case Lando had the chance to get the deserved factors since he personally did a greater job than Oscar within the Monza weekend.
“So, I thought it was good that they did that. But it’s impossible. There’s no right or wrong.”
Nonetheless, and though he complied, Rosberg believes it will not have been a straightforward name for Piastri to abdomen given the character of what occurred.
“It’s a hard one because if you’re Oscar, it will drive you nuts because it’s never been done before and until then, I think internally, pit stop speed is part of racing,” Rosberg urged.
“If one guy’s pit stop is a second slower and that results in a win, that’s always going to be part of racing historically. That’s always how it’s been.
“So, after all, in Oscar’s view, you wouldn’t prefer it very a lot. However he wasn’t given a alternative. As soon as the crew calls him out, he is obliged to let him cross.”
On the exact nature of the scenario and how it would have been governed by McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ of engagement, Rosberg added “All of it relies upon how clearly it is written down within the guidelines, however you can’t write one thing like that down within the guidelines as a result of pit cease occasions are all the time part of racing and the crew can not guarantee that everyone’s all the time going to have the identical pit cease occasions. It is similar to, at which level is it actually unfair? It is actually onerous.
“McLaren chose the better way, which was to redo the positions like before, because they messed up as a team and it’s not fair to get involved in that way into the Drivers’ Championship. So they took the route that was definitely better, but both routes were bad.”
What would ‘murderer’ Rosberg have executed in Piastri’s sneakers?
Piastri and Norris’ duel is the primary time team-mates in F1 have gone head-to-head all season for the championship since Rosberg did so in opposition to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2014-2016.
That intra-team rivalry on the Silver Arrows proved way more flamable than the one presently taking part in out at McLaren. Certainly Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ crew principal, on Sunday likened Rosberg and Hamilton at the moment to being “two assassins” in how they approached attempting to beat one another.
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Watch again probably the most heated moments the place team-mates have been instructed to swap positions
So, on condition that context from 9 years in the past when the title was settled in his favour in a tense Abu Dhabi finale, Rosberg was requested on the podcast whether or not he would have complied in the identical method to such a name as Piastri at Monza?
“We had very clear silver rules, not papaya rules, silver rules [that] if we risk losing the race win to a competitor, we need to work together as a team to secure the race win,” he stated.
“Monaco Grand Prix 2016, I’m racing against Lewis for the championship. I’m second, he is third, and Ricciardo is disappearing in the distance because I’m too slow.
Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff and Nico Rosberg pictured forward of the 2016 F1 season
“So the team, there’s a threat that we as a team are losing the race win. It’s clear. So the team comes on the radio and tells me, ‘you need to let Lewis pass because we might lose the race win here otherwise’.
“So I moved over and waved him previous as a result of it was clearly outlined and, after all, it is onerous within the second, nevertheless it’s then clear and straightforward to grasp and also you simply acquired to do it.
“Lewis didn’t do it in Abu Dhabi, which was the same situation, but also that is understandable that you would then. If you’re an assassin, you want to try and maximise the grey areas.”
Formulation 1 heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 19-21, reside on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
