Mark Hughes: Monza pitstop blunder left McLaren facing a familiar headache

The McLaren entered the Monza pitlane for its one and only stop. Hit its marks perfectly. But Lando Norris‘ left-front wheel nut did not tighten properly. The tyre man noticed and informed the gun man, nudging him. The gun man re-tightened it. In the process, over three seconds were lost, which was enough for McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri – who’d stopped the lap before after trailing Norris throughout – to sail past. This gave McLaren another one of those horrible dilemmas in which team harmony and driver ambition clashed.

Bu this was all happening a long way behind Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull. Not only was the Red Bull fast enough to have allowed Verstappen’s near-perfect lap to translate to pole the day before, but it was faster in the race too. There was a great early dice between Verstappen and second-fastest qualifier Norris; the McLaren on the grass moments after the start, after being squeezed by the Red Bull, but getting the inside line into Turn 1 and forcing Verstappen onto the escape apron, from where he rejoined leading but under instruction to give the place back.

Ordinarily, that might have been that: the McLaren in front with clean air and better tyre deg. But no, the Red Bull was just outright faster, and on lap four Verstappen DRS’d his way back into the lead – and proceeded to pull away at over 0.3sec per lap.

In the low-downforce tracks, the Red Bull RB21 is very aero-efficient. The McLaren’s aero efficiency advantage is at higher downforce tracks, to which it adds amazing tyre temperature control. Monza represents the lowest downforce configuration of the season, so bringing the two cars close together. It’s then all just about the set-up and the drivers. Red Bull had a Monza-specific wing (unlike last year) and worked out a beautiful set-up around it, Verstappen fine-tuning it even between FP3 and qualifying. It had less rear wing than the McLaren but still carried good downforce, and the extra front wing area they’d put on put it bang in its sweetspot.

That was the pole sorted. But the good news for Red Bull just kept coming. The track surface, laid new last year, had worn in nicely, and there was very little tyre deg, so cancelling a traditional race day advantage of McLaren. As Norris’ front left tyre began to lightly grain and Verstappen’s – with a more forwards balance on the car – dug in and gripped, so the Red Bull was quickly out of DRS range and on its way to victory. That grippier front did mean that eventually the Red Bull’s left front began to blister. But he was 6sec ahead by then and well into the pitstop window. It didn’t matter; it had done its job.

McLaren, realising there was no way it was going to beat Verstappen on pace, instead extended the first stint of both Norris and Piastri for as long as possible, in the hope that a safety car would give them a time-cheap stop and spring them past. Or even if there was no safety car, to run long enough to get onto the soft rather than the hard Verstappen had been obliged to take. There was no safety car, and as Verstappen continued to set a savage pace even on his hard tyres, so McLaren began looking at what the optimum lap would be on which to bring Norris in; late enough for softs but early enough to have some laps left to catch.

Norris was told he was coming in on lap 45 but quickly realising the potential hazard of being pitted before Piastri – i.e. a safety car after he’d stopped but before Piastri had would lose him position – he suggested they might want to pit Piastri first. They agreed.

Oscar had been left well behind in the first stint, having to scrap his way past Charles Leclerc‘s Ferrari in the early laps, but he was cutting into the 3sec gap ahead to Norris as he was called in. The stop was completed in 1.9sec. Norris’ would take 4sec longer – enough to switch the positions.

The Hungary 2024 situation was repeated, with the ‘wrong’ guy – i.e. the one who’d trailed behind since the start – ahead and McLaren dealt with it in the same way: by asking the lead driver to allow the other to pass, after which they’d then be free to race again. That’s how it happened, Piastri pulling aside with five laps to go and then chasing but being unable to pass.

Piastri came into this race 34 points ahead, so he could perhaps afford to be generous. Meanwhile, Verstappen, upon being told what had happened behind him, responded in a way which suggested he’d have reacted to the situation differently.