F1 MATHS: McLaren sets new pit stop record in Monza, but falters in overall tyre service time

McLaren completed the quickest tyre change at the Italian Grand Prix, but Ferrari turned out to be the most reliable and the fastest team in the pit lane considering the overall performance. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis.

Max Verstappen put in a dominant performance at the Italian Grand Prix, securing his third Monza win in the last four seasons. As for the Dutchman's strategy, he - unsurprisingly - opted for a single-stop strategy.

The four-time world champion started on the mediums, and with the yellow-banded tyres proving durable and consistent, he extended his opening stint until Lap 38. He then switched to the hard compound to complete the remaining 15 laps of the race.

The two McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri emerged as Verstappen's main rivals. However, neither the Briton nor the Australian were able to put the Red Bull driver under real pressure, therefore both of them extended their sole pit stop, hoping for a safety car or virtual safety car which would have provided them with a cheap tyre change.

On lap 46, Oscar Piastri was the first to pit in a move to secure third place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The pit crew completed the stop in 1.91 seconds which later became the quickest pit stop of the race.

In fact, this achievement was an improvement compared to the previous fastest pit stop record of the 2025 season which was a 1.94-second tyre service that had also been set by McLaren in Hungary.

However, McLaren could not repeat Piastri's brilliant tyre service when Norris came in for his sole tyre change. The papaya outfit took a full 5.87 seconds to get Norris back on track at Monza as there was a problem with the wheel gun on the front left, and the mechanic needed three attempts to get it sorted.

Norris lost second place to the runaway championship leader due to the long pit stop, prompting McLaren to instruct its drivers to swap places on lap 49. Piastri duly complied to let Norris past.

Considering the overall performance, Ferrari were the quickest outfit in the pit lane. The Scuderia required 2.12 seconds to change the tyres on Charles Leclerc's car which was the second-quickest tyre service at Monza. A few laps later, Hamilton also switched from mediums to hard which the Italian outfit completed in 2.18 seconds.

These two achievements meant that Ferrari claimed victory in terms of overall performance in the pit lane. The second quickest teams were Red Bull's two outfits. The senior squad completed a a 2.19-second and a 2.21-second tyre service, while Racing Bulls carried out the tyre change on Isack Hadjar's and Liam Lawson's car in 2.18 and 2.22 seconds, respectively.