How McLaren's lack of Norris-Piastri F1 team orders cost a Monza 1-2

OPINION: The McLaren team orders saga rumbles on after its shock defeat to home hero Charles Leclerc in Formula 1’s 2024 Italian Grand Prix. But while much of the focus has gone on Lando Norris’s championship chances in the aftermath of Oscar Piastri’s early intra-McLaren attack at Monza, there was also a race lost in the process too

McLaren has one of the best problems any team can have in Formula 1. It’s got two highly-rated, hard-charging drivers capable of winning races and, it seems, challenging for the championship.

Right now, although without the ugly animosity and crashes, Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri feels more Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost than Lewis Hamilton-Jenson Button.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.