Lando Norris believes a failed tow attempt from Oscar Piastri may have cost him as much as half a second during his final qualifying lap at Monza.
Norris finished ninth in Italian Grand Prix qualifying, with his best lap of 1m22.256s set on his first Q3 attempt, placing him seventh after the opening runs.
His second run proved significantly slower at 1m22.573s, roughly three tenths down on his first effort, after the planned McLaren team strategy unravelled in the closing moments.
McLaren’s plan had been for Piastri to lead Norris out of the pits on the final runs, providing his team-mate with a crucial slipstream along Monza’s long straights.
Piastri led the pair out of the pitlane, but the Australian locked his right-front tyre into Turn 1 and was forced to abort his lap via the escape road.
By the time Piastri rejoined the circuit, Norris had already passed him, leaving the defending world champion completely without a tow and effectively first on the road.
Norris was blunt about the impact of running without a slipstream at a circuit where straightline speed is so heavily rewarded by the layout.
“On the second run, it’s my time to go behind and get a bit of a slipstream and that certainly didn’t go as I’d hoped,” Norris said, summarising the frustration of the situation.
When asked whether a slipstream was worth two or three tenths at Monza, Norris was emphatic in his correction: “No, it’s more like half a second, maybe even more.”
That kind of improvement on his final lap could realistically have placed Norris in contention with the Ferraris and Max Verstappen, who occupied positions four through six in the qualifying order.
Norris highlighted McLaren’s straightline speed deficit as the central problem, explaining that close following distances were essential to make their laps competitive around Monza.
“It doesn’t matter, we’re useless as a car, we’re so slow in the straight, we have to have a good slipstream otherwise we’re not quick enough,” he said.
Piastri, who qualified third before receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lawson in Q2, explained the reasoning behind McLaren’s early pit exit strategy.
“Where we are in the pitlane, we often have to leave the garage first, because if we don’t, we end up being last,” Piastri said, detailing the difficult logistical situation the team faces at Monza.
Piastri admitted that he tried to compensate for already being two tenths down entering Turn 1, which ultimately led to the lock-up and abandoned lap.
“I tried to probably be a bit too ambitious, locked the front and that was it,” Piastri said, taking responsibility for the mistake that left Norris stranded without assistance.
On his first run, Norris had at least benefited from a tow from George Russell ahead, though that was still worth less than the two-car train Piastri enjoyed on that same attempt.
Norris noted that Piastri lost two tenths to him on the first run despite having a two-car tow, underlining just how much the straight-line disadvantage was hurting McLaren’s chances.
Norris will gain one grid position ahead of Sunday’s race after Kimi Antonelli received a grid penalty for taking new power unit components, promoting the McLaren driver to eighth on the grid.
Despite winning the previous two races in Hungary and the Netherlands, Norris acknowledged that Monza presents a very different challenge for the McLaren package.
“I think we’re quite a long way off,” Norris admitted. “It’s just that Oscar did a good job today and I never had that opportunity.”