Ex-F1 Driver Pinpoints Oscar Piastri’s ‘Ace up His Sleeves’ over Italian GP Team Orders

Nelson Piquet Jr. believes that Oscar Piastri will have an upper hand in the coming races against Lando Norris after helping him at the Italian GP.

Ex-F1 Driver Pinpoints Oscar Piastri’s ‘Ace up His Sleeves’ over Italian GP Team Orders

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (via PA Images)

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Oscar Piastri has emerged as the better driver at McLaren as he has held onto his driver’s title lead pretty well. The Australian has made very few mistakes while racing on the track and played the team game when necessary. Now, with just eight races left in the 2025 season, Piastri is leading the title over Lando Norris by a 31-point lead. As such, ex-F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. reveals how the 24-year-old now has an upper hand for the rest of the season after following team orders in Monza.

Lando Norris managed a better starting position at the Italian GP and started the race with an impressive pace. Norris led the race momentarily before losing the spot to Max Verstappen and running P2 for the entirety of the race. However, in the final stages of the race, the Briton suffered from a botched pitstop by McLaren, causing him to lose the P2 spot to Oscar Piastri.

On the other hand, Oscar Piastri had maintained a consistent pace the entire race and deserved the P2 finish. But, McLaren intervened and asked him to give the position back, just to maintain sportsmanship within the team. Piastri accepted the condition and gave the P2 finish to Norris in the end. This decision of the team caused a lot of backlash towards them, as the Aussie lost out without even being at fault.

Now, Nelson Piquet Jr. believes that Oscar Piastri giving up his spot would do him more good than bad. Piquet Jr. insisted that Piastri gained credibility within the team. As such, if the championship battle came close by the end of the season, he would have an ace up his sleeve. The Aussie can bring up the shenanigans at the Italian GP and force McLaren to help him over Lando Norris, purely because of the team game at Monza.

In this way, Piastri gains credibility with the team… if things get more interesting towards the end of the season, he will have an ace up his sleeve. I think he’s also a team player, so he can say, ‘Damn, I helped everyone back then’. However, it was not necessary to give up the position due to a team error.

Nelson Piquet Jr. said on the Pelas Pistas podcast

Nelson Piquet Jr. claims Oscar Piastri will ‘regret’ Italian GP decision

Oscar Piastri ultimately finished in P3 and lost some points in his championship lead after playing the team game. Norris cut the point difference by three points after getting the position back from Piastri. While the point difference between the two is still 31 points, anything can happen in the final eight races, and the Aussie could lose the championship by these three points.

Oscar Piastri (via Getty)
Oscar Piastri (via Getty)

As such, Nelson Piquet Jr. insisted that Oscar Piastri would definitely regret his decision to play the team game at Monza if he lost the championship by three points. However, the Brazilian accepted that this case was very unlikely and Piastri would likely emerge victorious in the championship. Moreover, Piquet Jr. reckoned that if there were only a few races left to complete, the 24-year-old wouldn’t have given up his position.

He will regret it very much if he loses the championship with less than three points difference, but I don’t think that will be the case; I think he will win… I don’t think that decision would have been taken if there were still three races to play. If there were three more races left to play, I doubt he would have done it.

Nelson Piquet Jr. added

McLaren is enjoying a season of utter dominance as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ride off in the distance in the driver’s standings. As such, the intra-team battle at Woking will be interesting to witness towards the end of the season. Now, time will tell about how Lando Norris manages to trump his Aussie counterpart if it happens.

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