Nico Rosberg shares extreme measure Oscar Piastri should have taken over McLaren F1 team orders

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri look at one another with a scowling Nico Rosberg between them — Photo: © IMAGO

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Nico Rosberg shares extreme measure Oscar Piastri should have taken over McLaren team orders

Desperate times call for desperate measures at McLaren according to F1 champion Rosberg

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Wednesday 10 September 2025 22:42

F1 champion Nico Rosberg has weighed in on the fallout from McLaren's controversial team orders at the Italian Grand Prix – with the former Mercedes star suggesting a rather drastic measure that Oscar Piastri could have taken at Monza.

Unless you've been living under a rock since the weekend, you've likely read all about the latest papaya rules incident.

In short, Lando Norris was ahead of Piastri, had a slow pit stop, ended up coming out behind the Aussie, but the team told him to give the place back to the Brit.

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While you can completely understand that Norris was not to blame for losing the position - this is also the beauty (and jeopardy) of live sport.

There has naturally been a lot of debate about whether or not McLaren should have intervened, with the majority of voices left scratching their heads on the matter as to why the call was made in the first place.

Would they do so if the exact same incident took place at the Abu Dhabi GP to decide who wins the drivers' title? I suspect not...but that's a hypothetical we hope does not need to be discussed.

Rosberg: Pull the team radio plug

However, Rosberg might have found a solution to all of the team radio drama. The answer? Just pretend you couldn't hear the pit wall. Well, not quite...

“Simon [Lazenby], I’m an assassin,” Rosberg told the Sky F1 Show with a dry smile.

“I would have pulled the radio plug and told them after the race; ‘Sorry I didn’t hear you guys!'

“I’m just kidding, Simon,” Rosberg clarified before sharing his concerns with the McLaren team orders.

“In actual fact, the first step is, is it clearly defined in the rules? And I can tell you that it is not defined in the papaya rules because it’s not something that you can put down in a rule.

“It’s so hard, because where’s the cutoff point to that?”

"I would've pulled the radio plug!" 😆

Nico Rosberg reacts to McLaren's driver-swap order in Monza on this week's F1 Show 👀 pic.twitter.com/reg4ValoBV
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 10, 2025