Nico Rosberg admits McLaren were left in an “impossible” situation ahead of their call ordering Oscar Piastri to let Lando Norris ahead of him at the end of the Italian Grand Prix.
A slow pit-stop from Norris, originally in second, meant he re-entered the race behind championship leader Piastri with a handful of laps remaining.
Piastri, who had a 34-point lead in the title race over Norris before the race, was then told to let Norris by given the team’s slow stop. Piastri initially voiced his disagreement before obeying, sacrificing a six-point swing in the championship.
The gap is now 31 points with eight races remaining and Rosberg – himself involved in an intra-team title battle with Lewis Hamilton in 2016 at Mercedes – admits McLaren had a tough call to make but believes it was “good” they allowed Norris to regain second place.
"A lot of people will not like it, a lot of people will think it makes sense," 2016 world champion Rosberg told Sky’s F1 Show podcast.
"I was happy they did that because with my hat that I have on, I want a super-exciting Formula 1 championship until the very end.
"So, I was happy that in that case Lando had the opportunity to get the deserved points since he personally did a better job than Oscar in the Monza weekend.
"So, I thought it was good that they did that. But it's impossible. There's no right or wrong.”
Piastri insisted post-race that he was satisfied with his decision to let Norris pass, despite the fine margins at play as both drivers eye their first F1 world championship.
Rosberg added: “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.
"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, of course, in Oscar's view, you would not like it very much. But he wasn't given a choice. Once the team calls him out, he's obliged to let him pass."
F1 next heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 19-21 September.
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