Mark Hughes explains why McLaren missed out on victory

The Race pundit Mark Hughes attempted to explain what prevented McLaren from winning the Italian Grand Prix when it looked like the British team had all the cards…

Charles Leclerc once again showed his ability to win races on the classic Formula 1 circuits: yesterday he won for the second time in his career in Monza, and this happened in the same season when he won in his home country of Monaco.

It was a great victory thanks to the carefully calculated tactic of a single pit stop. Charles managed to save his tyres, and this was enough to stay ahead of the McLaren drivers, who chose to pit twice. Moreover, he drove quite fast in the first segment, almost at the pace of the leaders.

It is debatable whether the Ferrari car could have gone faster than the McLaren. Lando Norris thinks so, as the SF-24 does not stress the front tyres as aggressively as the MCL38. Accordingly, the Scuderia’s car, with roughly the same level of rubber degradation, could have gone faster, making it possible to cover the distance in a single pit stop.

The same view is shared by Andrea Stella, the head of the British team: “Charles was able to keep the same pace as leader Oscar Piastri, for whom the track was clear, and this probably indicates that Leclerc was in fact faster.”

Observers from other teams believe that McLaren simply played it safe and opted for the two-pit-stop tactic, although the race could easily have been won if it had been limited to one pit stop. After all, Piastri and Norris were in the top two positions; we just had to be careful with the tyres and not get nervous.

The Ferrari, with a version of the aerodynamic body kit designed for Monza, where little downforce is needed but also stability under braking, gave the impression of being balanced and competitive. This was probably made possible by the modernised underbody of the SF-24, although Maranello’s main aim in developing it was to eliminate the problem of vertical roll, which is not so obvious on the Italian motorway in any case.

On the first lap of the race, Leclerc took advantage of the battle between the McLaren drivers: at the Roggia chicane he overtook Norris and moved up to 2nd position, after which he started to put pressure on Piastri.

Carlos Sainz was running fourth at the time and a few tenths slower, and it looked like Ferrari decided to split tactics, i.e. the Spaniard seemed to be aiming for one pit stop, and his teammate might have to change tires again.

As the race progressed, it became clear that even at Leclerc’s pace, the tyres could easily hold the distance. However, Ferrari responded to Norris’ attempt to use the tactic of an earlier pit stop (“cutting”): the Briton visited the pits on the 14th lap, Leclerc on the next.

As he simultaneously lost his position to Lando, everyone heard his indignant remark on the radio: “What was that? We decided to make an early pit stop, but they still got ahead of us because of ‘cutting’.

But in fact it turned out that it all worked perfectly to his advantage. No one pushed him, because at the start of his second stint Sainz was 9 seconds behind his teammate and held off the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, allowing Charles to calmly warm up the tires of the fresh Hard set.

Leclerc tried not to overload the tyres during the Lesmo and Parabolica corners, keeping them in excellent condition. The tyres started to grain, just like the Medium in the first stint, but as they wore down the problem became less and less obvious.

But the front tyres on the McLaren cars were clearly susceptible to granulation, and Piastri and Norris complained that their tyres had completely lost their efficiency and that they would not be able to reach the finish.

After the race it became clear that the tyres were not that badly worn, but just needed some breathing space, after which their efficiency could be restored. But the McLaren drivers probably loaded the tyres too aggressively at the beginning of the segment, and the team also believed that everyone would stop for a second time.

But there was another factor that prompted McLaren to adopt the two-pitstop tactic, which resulted in a defeat: on lap 31, Norris locked up the brakes while braking before turn 4. Apparently the team made the decision then, because there were still 22 laps to go before the finish…

Of course, McLaren could have controlled the Grand Prix more effectively if one of their drivers had led the first part of the race and the other had tried to hold Leclerc back, preventing him from getting any closer. Such an approach would have allowed a greater degree of flexibility in the choice of tactics and would have frustrated all of Ferrari’s plans.

But McLaren missed this opportunity when Piastri pushed his teammate quite hard into second position at the second chicane on the first lap, allowing Leclerc to get ahead of Norris and squeeze between the two orange cars.

Piastri simply acts like a sniper in such situations: clearly and without hesitation. And while it seems strange that McLaren, given the way things are in the individual competition, allowed this to happen and did not give its drivers the necessary instructions before the start, it is not a fact that everything was exactly like that. Perhaps the team did give such instructions.

This is what Andrea Stella said after the finish: “We will have to analyse everything together with the riders, understand their position and then draw conclusions whether they fully met our requirements or not.”

Overall, Piastri returned to the track after his second pit stop in third place behind two Ferrari cars. With just 14 laps to go before the finish, he was 17 seconds behind the leading Leclerc. He needed to gain back more than 1.5 seconds per lap, and also to stay ahead of Sainz as quickly as possible.

Oscar handled the second part of the task quite easily on lap 45, and Lando overtook Carlos a lap later. However, seven laps from the finish, Leclerc’s lead was still more than 9 seconds. His pace dropped with each lap, but he still saw the chequered flag 2.6 seconds ahead of Piastri.

Norris received an extra bonus point for the best lap as a consolation prize, although it is clear that this did little to cheer him up…

I remember this: the decisive factor that allowed Leclerc to win the 2019 Italian Grand Prix was a very daring overtake by his teammate, at the time Sebastian Vettel, at the Roggia chicane on the first lap of the race. Maybe Oscar Piastri saw this on TV in his youth and remembered it…