McLaren recovered from starting outside the first five places at Monza to finish fourth and fifth in the Italian Grand Prix, but Lando Norris made clear that the result should not disguise the weaknesses still affecting the MCL40. The reigning world champion finished ahead of Oscar Piastri after both drivers featured in some of the most entertaining battles of the race, including repeated fights with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
The result represented a small but important recovery for McLaren. By finishing just outside the podium places, the Woking team moved closer to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, while Lando Norris also reduced his deficit to Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.
Lando Norris says McLaren are still ‘not where we should be’ after Monza
The Italian Grand Prix featured a long and entertaining battle between Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, before the Ferrari driver also eventually lost a position to Oscar Piastri. The two McLaren drivers then fought each other for fourth place, with Lando Norris emerging ahead of his team-mate.
“I’m happy with the race, finishing fourth was a good result for us,” the British driver said. “The race was tough, the car was difficult to manage and I felt I drove well to maximise what we had. The second half went very well, using the slipstream allowed me to get back into the fight, and the battles with Lewis and Oscar on the last lap were fun. It was a good, tough race, and coming out on top was satisfying.”
Despite securing another strong haul of points after McLaren’s recent victories, Lando Norris believes there remains a clear performance gap that the team must address.
“Despite the result, it’s clear that we’re not where we should be. This weekend highlighted our weaknesses: we’re lacking overall performance, especially in qualifying, and our straight-line speed is a disadvantage. Even with the recent victories, we still have a lot of work to do as a team. We know our strengths and weaknesses, and the challenge now is to improve for the rest of the year.”
The assessment follows previous concerns over areas in which McLaren still needs to improve, with Lando Norris having already discussed how addressing the car’s remaining performance weaknesses could transform its competitiveness.
Oscar Piastri encouraged by McLaren pace despite tough battles
Oscar Piastri, who started eighth after receiving a penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying, was also involved in a series of overtakes and counter-attacks towards the front of the field. The Australian ultimately finished fifth, directly behind Lando Norris.
“I think my pace this weekend was the most encouraging it has been for a while,” the number 81 said. “It was definitely a tough battle. The race was quite tricky with the back-and-forth effect, especially with Lewis and then Verstappen, which made it difficult to break away. You had to be very smart to avoid losing time.”
Oscar Piastri felt that the final result accurately reflected McLaren’s competitive level at Monza, with Mercedes clearly setting the benchmark and Max Verstappen also showing stronger pace than the team had anticipated.
“In the end, we were the third-fastest team today. Mercedes were clearly much faster than everyone, and even Max had more pace than we expected. It was a good result for the team and probably the best result we could achieve. It was an intense and hot race, but I felt much better and hopefully we can carry this positive momentum forward.”
McLaren turn attention to improvements after Italian GP
Although fourth and fifth delivered useful points in both championships, neither driver viewed the Italian Grand Prix as evidence that McLaren has solved its underlying limitations. Straight-line speed proved particularly costly at Monza, while Lando Norris also pointed to qualifying performance as an area requiring further attention.
McLaren will therefore look to build on its stronger recent form as development continues, with the team already targeting further progress through its planned upgrades for the upcoming races. With both drivers remaining firmly involved in the championship picture, every improvement could prove significant over the remainder of the season.
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