After two consecutive wins, Lando Norris arrives fired up at Monza. But the Brit fears that the Italian circuit exposes the main flaw of his McLaren.
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Can Lando Norris make it three in a row at Monza? Winner in Hungary and then in the Netherlands, the reigning world champion approaches the Italian Grand Prix with impressive momentum. But the characteristics of the Temple of Speed could seriously complicate the task for McLaren.
The MCL40 indeed has a well-identified weakness since the start of the season: its behavior in slow corners and chicanes. Yet, despite its immense straights, Monza imposes several heavy braking zones followed by low-speed direction changes. Norris admits that his team does not yet have a miracle solution.
Monza could expose McLaren’s main flaw
The last few weeks have completely revived McLaren. The upgrades introduced before and after the summer break allowed Norris to win two consecutive Grands Prix and to close the gap to 83 points behind Kimi Antonelli in the championship.
A third win in Italy would further strengthen the hope of an unlikely comeback in the title race. But unlike Hungary or Zandvoort, the Monza layout does not seem to naturally suit the strengths of the MCL40.
Asked about the existence of a solution to correct McLaren’s difficulties in chicanes and slow corners, Norris does not try to hide the situation.
“No, there’s not really much we can do,” he admits. “Every car has its strengths and weaknesses and is designed slightly differently. Ours is simply not at the level we would like in this type of corner and at this speed.”
A weakness compensated elsewhere
This flaw obviously does not mean that the McLaren has become a bad single-seater. On the contrary, it excels in other types of corners, especially when speed increases, which partly explains its excellent performances in recent races.
For Norris, this situation is simply part of the compromises inherent in designing a Formula 1 car.
“We are clearly able to extract more performance in other types of corners. That’s simply how Formula 1 works: everyone has strengths and weaknesses.”
The positive point is that McLaren has perfectly identified the problem. The engineers in Woking are now working to try to reduce this weakness, even if Norris warns that a solution cannot necessarily be found overnight.
“It’s obviously something we are aware of, which is a good thing, and we are trying to work on it as quickly as possible. Sometimes, things can evolve quickly in Formula 1, sometimes not.”
“We know we could still suffer here”
The difficulty is particularly significant at Monza. The first two chicanes require very heavy braking before low-speed direction changes, while drivers also have to negotiate the Lesmo corners before accelerating over long stretches.
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All these situations are likely to highlight the current limits of the MCL40.
“The whole team is working on this at the factory. The most important thing is that it is clearly recognized as our biggest weakness lately, and we know that we could still suffer here in this type of corners,” warns Norris.
This weakness could thus interrupt the spectacular momentum of the Brit, who comes off two wins and now seeks to continue his climb in the championship.
McLaren facing a delicate compromise
There is nevertheless a possibility to improve the car’s behavior in slow sections: modify the setup to generate more downforce. But this decision would immediately have a particularly penalizing downside at Monza.
Increasing aerodynamic downforce could potentially improve efficiency in corners, but would reduce top speed on the immense Italian straights. On the circuit where aerodynamic drag is probably the most penalizing of the entire season, the compromise is far from obvious.
“We’ll see what we can do, maybe by slightly sacrificing our high-speed performance to try to gain something at low speed,” explains Norris.
But the Brit warns that it is not enough to just change a few settings to solve the problem.
“If it were that simple, we would do it much more often. So it’s not as easy as just doing that. We’ll see what we can do, but we know that this is an area where we need to improve.”
A real test for McLaren’s progress
Monza could ultimately be an excellent indicator of the real level reached by McLaren. After shining on two circuits better suited to the strengths of its car, the Woking team will now have to face a layout likely to expose its limits.
For Norris, the stakes are also important in the championship. With an 83-point deficit to Antonelli, every race now counts if he wants to keep a chance to defend his world crown. A third consecutive win in Italy would send a particularly strong signal to Mercedes.
But before thinking about the championship, McLaren will have to solve a complex equation: improve its MCL40 in the chicanes without sacrificing one of the most important qualities at Monza, its speed in fast sections. A compromise that could determine whether Norris can really aim for a third consecutive win.
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