Why Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's Pit-Stop Drama Is the Latest Chapter in Monza's Championship-Defining Tendency

By James Mclean

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are just the latest protagonists in another sequel to the list of titles, where the story is the race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, causes a moment that makes the race for the championship all the more interesting.

Credit: Formula One

Though it wasn’t Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris who took to the top step of the podium at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the Mclaren’s weren’t left out of the spotlight. There was a slow pit stop for the Briton, Piastri took over in second place, and the team were forced into a late swap of positions, after a promise made to Norris that he would come out ahead after his final stop, after allowing the Australian to pit first to cover Charles Leclerc. 

All the debacle allowed was Max Verstappen to extend his lead on the way to his 66th race victory. Before the offending Lap 47, it was a mellow outing for both of the boys in orange, as besides from some first-lap first-corner contact between Norris and Verstappen, where, when side-by-side with Norris, who appeared to be forced onto the grass in the lead up to the first chicane, Verstappen was forced to cut the corner.

However, nothing came of it and beyond that, after the concerned pit stops were completed, the Dutchman was hardly challenged, in part thanks to his Red Bull being superior in terms of straight-line pace, before taking the chequered flag. 

The events add another story to the saga of the Temple of Speed playing host to either drama among the contenders for the crown, or the crowning of a champion as it is a tale that is as old as the sport itself.

With the papaya contention the latest page in the book, you’ve only got to back four years for the last instalment, where a slow pit stop was again the cause of an altercation between the top two. That came in 2021 where Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton added more fuel to the fire in their battle, which became the most dramatic title fight since 2012.

A Flying Dutchman

Before the 12th of September 2021, Hamilton was on four wins, Verstappen on five and leading the championship. The fateful moment came on Lap 26. Verstappen, having pitted himself, was in eighth and had been stuck behind leader, Daniel Ricciardo, in a Mclaren himself, for most of the time before the crash, ended up on Hamilton’s tail, who was just coming out of the pits.

The two made contact into Prima Variante, after Verstappen clipped the inside rumble strips, which launched the RB17 straight on top of the W12. Due to the contact, the three-point gap between the two in the standings remained, blowing the remaining eight races even more open.

Credit: Formula One

After three wins out in final four races from Hamilton, they went into Abu Dhabi level on points. With a decision from Race Control to only let the lapped cars between the two protagonists unlap themselves, Verstappen was right behind his rival for the final lap of the season, Verstappen took the win and his maiden title. If both cars had finished at Monza, the gap wouldn’t have been as close as it was.

The Grounded Fin

22 years before, in 1999, it was McLaren again who would end up with tears. Mika Hakkinen led the standings by one point from Eddie Irvine going into the weekend, and having secured his eleventh pole of that season, he led the race for the first 30 laps before ending up in the gravel at the first corner, Prima Variante. The Fin’s anguish was evident as the cameras caught him crying under some trees.

Credit: Formula One

Luckily, Irvine only managed a sixth-place finish, then only rewarded with one point, which meant instead of Irvine taking the lead into the next race at the Nürburgring, the two drew level on points in the standings on 60 points. Hakkinen held on and managed to claim his second consecutive title. The Fin may have won the title, but his escapade at the Temple of Speed left him with sweaty palms up until he built up an unbeatable margin at the Japanese Grand Prix, that October.

Strained Anglo-German Relations

It’s to 1995 next and to another flare up in another well-known rivalry, Damon Hill v Michael Schumacher. The two had already a championship deciding shunt, that coming at the previous year’s Australian Grand Prix, where Schumacher went for an audacious move, which took him out the race, but also fatally damaged Hill’s suspension, also forcing the Briton to retire, earning the German the title. 

The next year’s race at Monza would be another collision, and their second of that year, as they also came together at Silverstone earlier in the season. Schumacher was 15 points ahead in the standings, holding six wins to Hill’s three. In this instance, it wasn’t through either’s fault that neither of them finished, instead it was compliments of the slow-moving Taki Inoue, who was about to be lapped, that meant the top two in the table came together.

 If nothing else, it was another flashpoint in the near two-year long rivalry, and gave Hill one less race to chase down the Benetton before it was Schumacher who took back-to-back titles, which ultimately he couldn’t do as the title went the way of the German at the Pacific Grand Prix, also in Japan, at the Aida International Racing Course, it was also the second consecutive year that Hill had come second to his rival in the final standings. Japan was also the place where the Briton finally got the elusive championship in 1996.

When Monza rolls around in an F1 season, fans get excited purely because of the history and stature of the track, as well as the pure speed that it provides. However, the archives will suggest that there is a chance that a championship contender at the time will be involved in one of the biggest talking points of the race, so fans should keep a keen eye on those out in front.