LIFE’S NO DRAG FOR MAX IN A MONZA MASTERCLASS

The 2025 Oracle Red Bull RB21 may have it’s shortcomings, but given the right operating window and Max Verstappen, the car is quite the rocketship.

And that was just the case at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

It marked the first time since Imola this year, ironically another low downforce circuit, where Verstappen was able to take the fight to the papaya pair aboard their often dominant McLaren MCL39s.

History will record the day somewhat boringly with a comfortable 18 second victory for the four time World Champion. It won’t herald the magnitude of the victory, nor the unique combination of car and driver that asserted such dominance.

For that we simply need to compare the fortunes of Verstappen to Yuki Tsunoda, his Oracle Red Bull teammate.

Whilst Max claimed pole position and a near lights to flag victory, life was more savoury than sweet for Tsunoda.

The Japanese driver qualified tenth for the race, some 8/10ths of a second behind Verstappen     and finished 13th of the 18 finishers.

It none-the-less marked an upturn in performance for the number 22.

This result alone isn’t necessarily indicative of a performance or skills gap between the two drivers.

Max Verstappen had the benefit of a new floor which may have tamed the beastly behavious of the RB21. It was a new component to which Tsunoda wasn’t priveliged in Italy. That disparity may well prove to be a master stroke in understanding the performance gains from this update.

And for that the credit may well go to Laurent Mekies, the new team prinicipal of Oracle Red Bull Racing.

The new floor; concevied, designed and produced in just six weeks, coincided with his introduction to the team.

“Up until now we’ve had a lot of races where we were just shooting left and right a little bit with the set-up of the car,” Verstappen was quoted. 

“Quite extreme changes, which shows that we were not in control. We were not fully understanding what to do.”.

“With Laurent having an engineering background, he’s asking the right questions to the engineers – common-sense questions – so I think that works really well. Plus, you try to understand from the things that you have tried, then at one point something gives you a bit of an idea of a direction, and that’s what we kept on working on.”

That may well sound warning bells for the rest of the Grand Prix grid, including McLaren.

Thus far, the ace up Oracle Red Bull Racing had been their low downforce rear wing, coupled with Max Verstappen’s liking for racing on the thin edge.  To hear that the RB21 has become more predictable and almost tamed suggests of an upturn in performance across a wider range of track configurations. 

Given the Dutchman has outperformed  both McLarens since the return from the summer break, a near 100 point defecit to the championship leader with 8 rounds remaining, the gap is immense, though not totally impossible to bridge.

“I think it’s still a bit track dependent,” Verstappen said of the RB21.

“Here you drive low downforce. It always seems like our car is a little bit more competitive when it’s low- to medium-downforce.”

“So it’s not like suddenly now we are back. It’s not like we can fight, I think, every single weekend.”

“But the positive is that we seem to understand a little bit more what we need to do with the car to be more competitive.”

While all appeared bright and rosy for the Oracle Red Bull number 1, life at McLaren became rather complicated as the compulsory pit stops concluded.

Lando Norris had been the driver most likely to offer Verstappen any degree of opposition during the race and momentarily led the Grand Prix after a first lap stoush, with Norris on the grass and then Verstappen running off the track at the first corner Variante del Rettifilo.

As the field headed towards the Curva BiassonoTurn 3, Verstappen held the lead from Norris and Leclerc, who had jumped ahead of Oscar Piastri as the championship leader took a more cautious approach intot he opening corner as the Verstappen/Norris scrap unfolded up ahead.

Piastri clung to the outside line at the entrance of the curve and swept around the Ferrari to regain third place. Though it was an all too brief celebration.

Verstappen was told to hand the lead to Norris at the end of the opening lap. He slowed along the pit straight to allow the #4 McLaren by, then launched another attack at the first turn. That move saw Piastri comprmised once again and Leclerc duly moved back into third place on the run towards the Cruva Biassono. This time there was no quick response from the Australian, who then endured another 5 laps behind the Ferrari before moving ahead at Turn 1 on Lap 6.

By then race leader Verstappen was 3.272 seconds up the road, having used the DRS zone to sweep back into the lead at the Variante del Rettifilo on Lap 4. Norris was also almost 2 seconds clear, which placed Piastri in a somewhat lonely race for the majority of the 47 laps that remained.

From there Verstappen was never really challenged, save for the compulsory single pitstop, which handed the lead temporarily back to Norris.

Fernando Alonso became the second retirement of the race with suspension failure on Lap 25. He joined Nico Hulkenberg on the sidelines after the Kick Sauber driver had been told to box at the end of the formation lap. That spelt an end to his race before it had even begun.

Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda came to blows on Lap 28 with contact that sent to the Racing Bulls #30 across the run-off at the Variante della Roggia.

Max Vertappen made his only visit to the pitlane on Lap 38, exchaning his well used medium tyres for a shiny new set of the hard compound. He returned to the circuit some 5 seconds behind Piastri and 11 seconda away from Norris.

Bearman and Sainz both spun on Lap 41 after an ambitious move from Bearman had the Haas into the side of the Williams machine. Bearman wore a 10 second time penalty for his role in the incident.

The final talking point of the race began to unfold on Lap 46 when Oscar Piastri was the first of the McLaren drivers to pit. That honour normally fell to the leading driver of the pair, though Norris was prepared to let the #81 stop first, on the proviso that he didn’t gain from any undercut.  It proved to be a rather prophetic statement.

Norris stopped a lap later and was held up by a problem with the front left wheel. That all but negated his advantage over Piastri.

A message was then sent to the Australian from race engineer Tom Stallard stating; “We are boxing the cars this way round to ensure we cover Leclerc. You are free with Lando once he’s ahead of the pit exit.”

There was just one problem with that declaration; Piastri was already ahead by the time Norris cleared the pit exit.

Once more the message was sent to Piastri; “Oscar, this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted for strategic reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race.”

Oscar Piastri was somewhat miffed by the call, considering the incident to be more of a slow stop than an attempt to hold off a late charge from Leclerc in fourth.

“Mate, we said a slow pit stop is part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here,” Piastri replied. “But I will do it.”

That ‘papaya rules moment’ almost overshadowed Max Verstappen’s stunning drive to an 18 second victory. It brought about an avalanche of responses, on both sides of the fence.

Even Verstappen himseld had a word when told of the move by his race engineer.

“Ha, just because he had a slow stop!” He quipped.

Stallard was quick to assert that the decision had been based on a undercut situation involving Norris and Piastri the year before. On that occasion it was Norris who was boxed first as Piastri queried the move. Assured by the team that it was designed to see off a possible threat from Leclerc, but also saw Norris assume the race lead. The reversing of position in that instance was a more prolonged affair, though it was also for the race win, not second place.

It should be noted that it was the undercut that ensued which borught about the orchestrated swap, which would not have been an issue without the wheel fastening drama.

Had that been the cause then one might consider Piastri’s request to change places at the British Grand Prix after his time penalty to also have retrospective merit. Though that is never going to change.

So Max Verstappen went on to record his third Grand Prix victory in 2025 from Norris and Piastri.
Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Albon, Bortoleto, Antonelli and Hadjar rounded out the Top 10.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend and to win again has been incredible, it’s been a while!” Max Verstappen told Oracle Red Bull Racing Media.

Photos: F1 & McLaren Facebook

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