The excitement came at the start and toward the end of this rather quick race.
The Tifosi have a singular passion. Credit: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Formula 1 held its Italian Grand Prix at Monza this past weekend. It’s the third-oldest purpose-built racetrack on the planet, and even includes an old and rather dangerous-looking oval that, while no longer in use, is accessible on foot if you feel like exploring. It’s a deceptively simple-looking track where it’s all about top speed and nailing your braking into the four heavy deceleration zones. Downforce is actually an impediment here, and that means the pecking order that we have become familiar with this season got a little upended.
That was apparent from free practice on Friday, topped by the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with Carlos Sainz’s Williams in third. Verstappen looked quick in his Red Bull, armed with a new Monza-spec rear wing that made his car cut through the air even more efficiently. The McLarens of title contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris got faster through the practice sessions, with the Williams of Alex Albon and Sainz continuing to look strong.
Things often get messy when the cars have to funnel through the first chicane. Credit: Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Qualifying did not go well for the Williams drivers. The time constraints of the qualifying sessions meant neither Albon nor Sainz was able to get their tires into the right temperature window, and the two were relegated in Q2. Hopes of a home pole for Ferrari—and a repeat of last year’s win—were not to be, as Leclerc could manage only fourth on the grid. Hamilton was just over a tenth of a second slower in fifth, but would have to take a grid penalty as a consequence of last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Pole is important at Monza: over the last couple of decades, it has been a reliable way to win the race. Norris just got the edge over Piastri, who leads him in the title race, but Verstappen went faster than either, beating Norris to pole by 77 milliseconds. As we’ve noted before, the margins this season are minuscule.
Sunday’s race got off to an exciting start. Verstappen and Norris raced each other very hard into the first chicane; the Red Bull driver on the outside was forced to cut the chicane and leave the track to remain ahead of Norris and was ordered by his team to give the place back, before passing Norris with an effective move on the next lap. The greater intrinsic pace of the Red Bull was impossible to deny, and in clean air at the front, Verstappen began to pull away to enjoy what must have been a fairly boring day at work.
Norris and Verstappen battled hard at the start. Credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images
It was all over quite quickly—Verstappen completed the Grand Prix’s 53 laps in just an hour and 13 minutes.
Papaya rules
But the big talking point from the race resulted from the McLaren pitstops, on laps 45 and 46. Norris was the faster of the two all weekend, and as he was leading Piastri in the race, Norris was given the option to make his pit stop first or second. He chose second, on the condition that Piastri wouldn’t use the opportunity to undercut him. Piastri’s stop on lap 45 went well, but when Norris came in a lap later, there was a problem changing the front left wheel, which kept him stationary almost four seconds longer.
That was enough to allow Piastri past. However, the team instructed the championship leader to slow down and relinquish the position to Norris. It was a team mistake, not a driver mistake, and McLaren is doing everything in its power to ensure the eventual champion gets there because of their driving and not some external factor. Piastri didn’t sound exactly happy on the radio. But F1 is a team sport, and racing drivers are employees—when your boss gives you an order, it’s wise to do what they ask and argue about it after the fact, if continued employment is one of your goals.
Oscar Piastri (L) and Lando Norris (R) have a very 21st century relationship. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
For many, a slow pit stop is just one of those things bestowed by the racing gods, and even Verstappen pointed that out when informed by his engineer of the change in positions behind him. After the race, Norris seemed a little embarrassed to have been given the place back, but the emerging consensus from former drivers was that, since Norris had been asked about pit stop priority, and had been undercut anyway, that was sufficient to excuse the request.
McLaren’s approach to handling its drivers is markedly different from the all-out war we saw when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso raced for it in 2007. Then, neither went home with the big trophy at the end of the year—their infighting allowed Kimi Raikkonen to take the title for Ferrari instead.
That won’t happen this year; either Norris or Piastri will be crowned at the end of the year, with the other having to wait at least another year. The pair have even been asked how they want the team to celebrate in the event the other driver wins—a sensitivity that feels refreshingly new for Formula 1.
Formula 1 heads to Azerbaijan in two weeks for another low-downforce race. Can we expect another Verstappen victory?
Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.
