'McLaren must grow up to win titles' - GPFans’ Italian Grand Prix Hot Takes

Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Netherlands, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Italian Grand Prix

'McLaren must grow up to win titles' - GPFans’ Italian Grand Prix Hot Takes

GPFans staff give their hot takes after Sunday's race action at Monza

Originally written by Simmey Hannifin Donaldson. This version is a translation.

Sunday 1 September 2024 22:00

After all the talk of a potential Lando Norris-Max Verstappen championship battle in the build-up to the Italian Grand Prix, it was another star who stood out in Monza.

Charles Leclerc took a stunning home victory for Ferrari at the iconic circuit on Sunday, pulling off an audacious one-stop strategy to hold off McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who had looked like the man to beat after lap one.

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Piastri, though, was given a two-stop strategy by his team, which you have to say, ultimately cost him the race.

Ferrari put all their chips on the table leaving both Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz on one-stop races, and whilst Piastri and his team-mate Norris were able to get past the Spaniard, the Monegasque driver proved a challenge too far.

Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Charles Leclerc has two victories at Monza to his name

GPFans' Italian Grand Prix hot takes

Chris Deeley - US Editor

McLaren just cannot get out of their own way. Despite having had the fastest car on the grid for months, they’ve won three times all season. Three.

That’s the same number that Mercedes have won in the last six races. That’s the same number as Ferrari, the consensus fourth-fastest team on the grid. How do you ruin your star driver’s best-ever chance at a title? Act like McLaren.

They’ve made strategic mistakes all season long. They’ve been outclassed on the pit wall by Ferrari today. The only thing anyone can talk about when the team are brought up is potential internal conflict between their drivers.

This is a team that isn’t ready to win a title. This is a team of children sitting at the adults’ table. If they don’t grow up soon, they’re going to waste the best car they’ve had in a generation.

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Max Verstappen may still have his championship advantage but his Italian GP weekend is nothing to be proud of.

Red Bull have swung from being the best team on the grid to finishing below a Mercedes, and if reports are to be believed there is no immediate solution to their woes.

Whilst Verstappen moans about his position over team radio, he needs to accept that he no longer has a future at Red Bull.

The former flying Dutchman is going down with a sinking ship and will be kicking himself after rejecting Toto Wolff’s enticing offer to Mercedes.

Verstappen may still win this world title, but he has ultimately made a major mistake by not signing for Mercedes next year - one he will come to regret later in his career.

Max Verstappen finished just P6 in Monza

Matt Hobkinson - Lead Editor

Monza, you absolute joy.

The Temple of Speed delivered once again as the Tifosi can now head off to celebrate long into the night.

For all the recent years of jokes at Ferrari’s expense – they got their strategy absolutely perfect today. A laughing stock no more, at least for now…

It’s not often that a team can finish with both drivers on the podium and be disappointed, but that is exactly the position McLaren find themselves in.

They had an incredible chance to put the fear of God into Red Bull, but a poor start and poor strategy cost them dearly.

It will be these missed opportunities that Zak Brown could find himself looking back on and wondering ‘if only’ after the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi.

Sam Cook - F1 Journalist

The Italian Grand Prix proved why Lando Norris will never become a Formula 1 world champion.

Norris was outclassed by his much less experienced team-mate Oscar Piastri throughout, even if you take away the plethora of mistakes that Norris made.

Yet another poor start allowed Piastri to get the better of his McLaren team-mate into Turn 2, and whether or not the Australian should have made that move in the interests of Norris’ championship challenge is neither here nor there. Piastri would have beaten Norris at Monza no matter which of the two got the better start.

Congratulations to Charles Leclerc for a phenomenal race victory, are Ferrari also in a world championship battle?

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished P2 and P3 at the Italian GP

Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson - F1 Journalist

McLaren really do not care about Lando Norris’ potential championship battle with Max Verstappen, do they?

If they did, they’d have surely had a discussion between their two drivers ahead of the race at Monza this afternoon regarding team orders.

Norris led into the first corner, and from thereon in, Piastri should have backed him up, letting him bring in his tyres and thus giving him a real shot at making a dent on Verstappen’s championship lead.

Instead, Piastri made a brilliant but bold move into the second chicane, which ultimately led to his team-mate not only conceding the lead but also second place to race-winner Leclerc.

On a day that Verstappen finished a measly sixth, Norris took just eight points out of the three-time champion’s lead.

A monumental missed opportunity for the Brit.

Dan Ripley - Deputy Chief Editor

Lots of talk about Mercedes drivers coming in and going out at Monza and it seems all of that will calm down now Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been confirmed as Lewis Hamilton's replacement for the future.

Or has he? Maybe, just maybe, he has in fact just replaced George Russell who while continuing to do a solid job on Saturday by consistently outqualifying Hamilton now seems to be developing a trend where he goes backwards during a grand prix - watching his British compatriot go past him at Monza.

Russell was the next big thing at Mercedes but now in his third season with the team, it's arguable his Ferrari-bound team-mate is still the No 1 driver at the Silver Arrows magnifying Russell's failure to turn the Mercedes focus on him.

Want a precedent for this? Think of Charles Leclerc rocking up at Ferrari as Kimi Raikkonen's replacement in 2019 only for it to be the trigger of Sebastian Vettel's downfall. Those Verstappen Mercedes links for 2026 won't be too comfortable for Russell that's for sure.