Oscar Piastri has said he has no issues with McLaren calling team orders late in the Italian Grand Prix, allowing his teammate and championship rival to overtake him for second place.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen became the first driver since 2019 to convert pole position into victory at Monza, claiming his third grand prix win of the season.
But the main drama belonged to McLaren, who were forced into asking Piastri to hand second place to Lando Norris with five laps to go after the Brit suffered a slow pit stop.
The result means Piastri's lead in the drivers' championship over Norris is 31 points, trimmed down from 34 heading into the grand prix.
Piastri had spent the entire race behind Norris, but emerged with a two-second advantage after a faulty wheel gun delayed his teammate's pit stop.
Piastri obliged to McLaren's team order to let Norris pass with five laps remaining, a decision he said after the race he was fine with.
"When you're in the same team, same pit crew, same mechanics, there's a lot at stake. For not just us, but for the whole team," he told UK broadcaster Sky Sports.
"I think the decision to swap back was fair. Lando was ahead of me the whole race, so I don't have any issues with that."
Starting third on the grid, Piastri lost a position to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at the first corner, only to retake third later in the opening lap.
Leclerc battled back and passed the Australian at the start of the second lap, and then kept Piastri at bay until lap six.
Once Piastri re-established third place, Verstappen and Norris had created a sizeable gap after they too traded the lead of the race in the opening four laps.
With tyres not degrading as harshly as expected, the trio in front extended their first stints until late in the race.
With eight laps remaining, and winning not a possibility, Norris was offered the first pit stop but told his team to bring Piastri in to cover off any threat from Leclerc in fourth.
But while Piastri's pit stop was perfect, Norris's stop one lap later was so slow that the Australian emerged ahead with a two-second advantage.
With the chance to extend his lead in the drivers' championship to 37 points over Norris, Piastri was asked to hand the place back by his race engineer, Tom Stallard.
"Oscar, this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando pass, then you are free to race," Stallard told Piastri over the radio.
Stallard's reference to Hungary was when Norris was asked to give the lead of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix to Piastri, after a similar pit stop sequence.
Piastri expressed his displeasure at team orders being called in the moment, suggesting slow pit stops are just part of motor racing.
"We said a slow pit stop was part of racing, so, I don't really get what's changed here," Piastri told Stallard.
"But if you really want me to do it, I'll do it."
[race classification]After the race, Norris told Sky Sports that he would have done the same as his teammate, despite the pair battling for the drivers' championship.
"The same thing would have happened if it was vice versa," Norris said.
"If Oscar had a worse pit stop and I was behind before I'd have to have let him through.
"None of us want it to happen like this. I didn't choose for these things to happen. I don't want to have to let him pass, or I be let passed.
"We have to do what we think is correct as a team."
Verstappen continues record-breaking weekend
One day after producing the fastest lap in the 75-year history of Formula 1, Max Verstappen produced the fastest race of all time.
On Saturday, Verstappen's pole lap had a record-setting average speed of 264.682kph.
One day later, Verstappen set the record for the fastest F1 grand prix ever, completing the 53 laps of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in one hour 13 minutes and 24.325 seconds, at an average speed of 250.706kph.
Verstappen was challenged by Norris into turn one, with the Dutchman cutting the corner to retain the lead.
The four-time world champion handed the lead of the race to Norris on lap two, avoiding a penalty, only to reel in the McLaren driver and retake the lead on lap four.
From there, Verstappen never looked threatened, producing a drive that looked more like his dominant 2023 campaign rather than this year's McLaren dominance.
"The whole weekend, we were on it. It's super enjoyable to win here," Verstappen said.
When asked if he was concerned about losing the lead to a dominant McLaren early, Verstappen said he felt confident he would be able to claim his third grand prix win of the season.
"I just needed to settle in. I could see the pace was there, and quite quickly we were back in the lead," he said.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc kept the McLarens honest in fourth, finishing four seconds adrift of Piastri.
Mercedes driver George Russell was fifth, while Lewis Hamilton rose from 10th on the grid to place sixth for Ferrari.
Alex Albon (Williams), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bull) rounded out the top 10.
Relive all the action of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix on the live blog below.
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