McLaren has been facing immense criticism from fans and experts after they did not enforce team orders to stop their drivers from racing each other at the Italian Grand Prix last weekend. Many believe that Oscar Piastri is unwilling to accept the role of a second driver at McLaren since Mark Webber is his manager. Some have speculated about how Webber may have instructed Piastri to not play second fiddle to Lando Norris because of his own ‘Multi 21’ experience at Red Bull. Now, Webber has provided insight into the infamous incident that took place at the 2013 Malaysian GP.
During that race, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel started from pole, while teammate Webber started from P4. The latter had a better start off the line and had more pace in the early laps, allowing him to take the race lead.
Meanwhile, Vettel dropped to P2, and the closing stages of the race made it all but certain that the Milton Keynes-based team would secure a 1-2 finish. With high tire degradation, the team issued “Multi 21” orders, asking its drivers not to race each other.
However, the German former driver refused to follow team orders and took the race win away from his teammate in Malaysia. As he passed the chequered flag in P2, Webber went on the radio to angrily repeat “Multi 21,” making for an infamous phrase.
“just gonna put into your mind, martin, oscar piastri’s manager, mark webber, knows a thing or two about team orders not being followed through. multi 21, anybody?”
these people are not serious https://t.co/BjS4xdKlMO pic.twitter.com/xJHfWuzKr8
— kyu (@tracklims) July 21, 2024
Appearing as a guest on the Formula For Success Podcast recently, Webber revisited the incident and revealed what happened after the race. Revealing that Vettel apologized to him after the race, Webber understood how when one’s helmet is on, one can forget a few things and only care about racing.
“Sometimes the helmet, when it’s on, you are in beast mode, in fighter mode. And you want to get the bl**dy job done for yourself“, Webber said.
Thus, the Australian former driver feels the case was similar between Piastri and Norris at Monza. The first example of a similar incident between them came back in Hungary when a reverse pit strategy by McLaren put the Briton in the lead despite the 22-year-old leading for the most part.
It took laps worth of convincing from the team before Norris ultimately decided to slow down and allow Piastri to take back the race lead. Tense moments took over the entire McLaren camp as Norris kept pushing, increasing the distance between him and his teammate in P2.
Since it was McLaren’s decision that complicated things in Hungary in the first place, they faced immense criticism after the race. They faced a similar level of criticism last weekend for implementing ‘Papaya Rules‘.
As per these rules, their drivers are free to race each other as long as they maintain a safe distance and do not collide. However, many believe that the implementation of such a rule at Monza further hampers Norris’ chance of fighting for the Drivers’ Championship as he finished in third while Piastri finished in second.
With Norris finishing behind Piastri, he lost on an opportunity to score three more points, which could prove to be valuable by the time the season comes to an end in determining who wins the title. As things stand, Max Verstappen leads Norris by 62 points, with eight races remaining in the season.
