2023 Italian Grand Prix “I think we can be pleased with the pace shown by the MCL60 today"

Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Sunday, 3 September

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the Italian Grand Prix.

As it happened

• After an aborted race start, both Lando and Oscar gain a place each on the opening lap
• Albon gets back past on the next lap, dropping Oscar to P7
• The pit-stops commence and Oscar takes the lead of the Grand Prix
• Lando, and then Oscar, pit for Hards
• After a fast outlap from Lando, there's contact while overtaking Oscar into the first chicane
• Now running in P8 and P9, the drivers close up to Albon quickly but Lando is unable to make the pass
• Hamilton closes up behind Oscar, but there’s contact during the overtake
• Oscar drops out of the top 10 after pitting due to damage
• Hamilton then passes Lando but gets a 5s time penalty for the move on Oscar
• Oscar makes it past both Lawson and Sargeant but is given a 5s time penalty
• Lando gets ahead of Albon but then loses the place and is back in P8
• At the chequered flag Lando finishes P8 and Oscar finishes P11, but the time penalty drops him to P12

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Started 9th
Finished 8th
Fastest lap 1m26.144s on lap 24 (+1.072s, 14th)
Pit-stops 1, lap 22 [Medium/Hard] (2.1s)

"A good race. I think the pace was strong today. It was just very difficult to overtake, as usual, but when we didn’t have to overtake, the pace was good. We could pressure Alex the whole race, but he did a very good job, so hats off to him and Williams, they were quick this weekend and managed to stay ahead. I think it was the best we could have done, so happy with that. Big thanks go to the team, both at track and at the factory, for reacting after Spa and giving us a more competitive package. We’ll put our heads down now and start focusing on Singapore."

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Started 7th
Finished 12th
Fastest lap 1m25.072s on lap 43 (1st)
Pit-stops 2, lap 23 [Medium/Hard] (2.7s) and lap 41 [Hard/Medium with nosebox change] (10.2s)

"A difficult day with plenty of challenges. Firstly, it was great to lead my first Grand Prix laps, and the overall pace was encouraging today, but unfortunately, we were still lacking in straight-line speed to really take the fight to Alex [Albon]. After the first stint, our race got a little bit more difficult and the incident with Lewis ended our chances of getting points. Lots to debrief on as a team and we’ll aim to come back stronger in Singapore."

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Lando Seasonal Collection

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"Our objective for the race was to finish with two cars in the points, which we only partly achieved. With Oscar, while we were in the points we had a collision with Lewis, which dropped him out of contention, needing to pit for a new front wing. Otherwise, I think we can be pleased with the pace shown by the MCL60 today. We were ready for greater degradation and a more difficult race but in reality, our degradation was manageable, and we were limited only by the capacity to overtake. Considering where we were in Spa, two races ago, this feels very encouraging. The team have worked very hard since the Belgian Grand Prix to address our issues with top speed. They’ve done a very good job, and parts were being delivered here until the last minute. So, well done to everyone, and now we look forward to Singapore, where we hope to be competitive."

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