– After two wins in Budapest and Zandvoort, Lando Norris suffered a heavy defeat in qualifying for the Formula 1 race in Monza (follow live here in the ticker). The world champion only finished ninth and was thus in Q3 only faster than Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad.
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On Saturday, Norris mainly struggled with two problems: the brakes and the lack of slipstream. “When I braked, the car pulled in one direction. And that is exactly what you don’t want on a track where you need full confidence in the brakes to slow down for the first two chicanes,” he laments.
“Turn 1 is one of the hardest braking zones of the entire season. When the brakes do what they did today, you have zero confidence,” Norris explains. “But when you start a lap and arrive at 320 to 330 km/h, you want to know that the car decelerates properly and the wheels don’t just lock up.”
However, that was not Norris’ main problem that day and according to him is no excuse for the McLaren’s lack of pace in Monza. “We are so slow on the straights that we need a good slipstream, otherwise we are not fast enough,” he emphasizes. But Norris did not have the necessary slipstream in qualifying.
And here, one is basically a bit a victim of their own success. As world champion, McLaren has the first garage in the pit lane and the longest way out. So you also have to be the first out of the garage to keep the schedule. Everyone else can react to McLaren and line up in the fast lane behind the papaya cars.
Slipstream is exchanged
As a result, in the second attempt there was no other car in front to provide slipstream. So McLaren had to basically give themselves slipstream and let both drivers go out once ahead of the other from the garage: In the first Q3 attempt Norris had to pull Piastri, in the second attempt it was the other way around.
“I had priority in the sense that I had to be the first out of the pit lane in the first Q3 attempt,” says Norris. Although he still had George Russell’s Mercedes in front of him, Piastri behind him could use the slipstream of two cars, which ultimately led him to third place.
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“I had the slipstream of one car and lose two tenths to Oscar, who has the slipstream of two cars,” Norris explains. “So I can’t do anything about it. It wasn’t my best lap either, I don’t want to deny that, but most of the time I just lose on the straights.”
But there was supposed to be a second attempt, which is usually the faster one – and this time Piastri had to pull Norris. But Norris did not get the desired slipstream because Piastri braked too late in the first chicane and went straight on. So the Englishman was on his own, as no other car was in front of McLaren either.
“The second attempt was of course a total loss,” he complains. Because the lack of slipstream costs half a second in Monza according to him. “So in a way it’s unfortunate, you just have to accept it.”
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Ralf Schumacher: Was it a foul by Piastri?
For Piastri, however, it was not the first time he braked too late in the first chicane. According to Sky expert Ralf Schumacher, it looked “a bit dirty.” “Like a perfectly clean foul against the teammate.”
So did Piastri brake too late on purpose to avoid giving his teammate slipstream? “In doubt, always for the accused,” says Schumacher. “I hope it wasn’t like that. You can brake too late sometimes, but the data will show. If he did it on purpose, then I could imagine it would cost him a lot within the team.”
“In any case, it will be necessary to look at the data and see that he had a problem there,” he continues. “Otherwise, it would of course be a clear foul. And if something like that happens once, a lot of trust would break down. And I think he is clever enough not to do it intentionally.”
Piastri himself says that due to the missing slipstream before turn 1 he was already two tenths behind his own best time. “So I tried to compensate somehow,” he explains. “I just misjudged the braking point a bit and locked the wheels. Well, that was it for the session.”
Norris: Slowest on the straights
But while Piastri managed third place thanks to the first attempt, Norris was stuck in ninth place. “That is somewhat the price for being world champions and having to be the first out of the pit lane,” he says. “So there is nothing we can really complain about. We just knew it would be tough, and that’s exactly how it turned out.”
“I think the most painful thing this weekend is simply the deficit in top speed,” he continues. “Kimi could basically do a 22.1 or 22.0 without slipstream (1:22.093; editor’s note). With slipstream, he does a 21.6 or so and is on pole.”
“But the people who were fast were fast because they are fast – not because they were lucky,” he emphasizes. “They absolutely deserve to be where they are, they had no luck at all.”
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“As for us: We are probably among the slowest on the straights. We have to start a lap two seconds behind someone – which is pretty crazy. Otherwise, we are just not fast at all. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow, but I think as soon as we are in free running, we won’t be really good in any situation.”
