Red Bull advisor Marko renders verdict on McLaren's team orders in his own way

The Italian Grand Prix was dominated by Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen, who achieved a comfortable victory and set the record for the fastest ever F1 race while McLaren managed to grab the unwelcome headlines.

A strategic error and a slow pitstop for Lando Norris saw him lose valuable time and demoted him to P2 behind his teammate Oscar Piastri in the last stages of the race.

In the interests of fairness, McLaren ask their drivers to swap position, which would allow Norris to regain P2 which he had lost due to the slow stop.

Piastri then replied over the radio: "We said a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don't know what has changed." After McLaren gave their reasons for their strategic decision, which the Australian driver had complied with even though the title battle between him and teammate Norris is still on the line.

Those points lost by Piastri may turn out to be the difference between taking the championship, or finishing runner up to Norris later in the season.

Max Verstappen was asked by Austrian television in Monza whether he, in a similar situation - just like Piastri - would have let his teammate pass. In response, the reigning world champion said honestly: "I would not have done that."

In the paddock in Italy, GPblog asked Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko what he thought of the team order given by McLaren. The Austria smiled and then said: "Very fair!", before bursting into laughter.

Marko is known to be very outspoken, and often does not hesitate to provoke competitors with the odd incendiary statement. Whether Marko really found McLaren's decision to be 'very fair' may be doubtful given his following reaction.