If there’s one thing that has become painfully clear in the 2025 Formula 1 season, it’s that McLaren’s pitstop performance still leaves a lot to be desired. Despite the team’s undeniable talent and the firepower of Norris and Piastri, their pit crews seem to be stuck in slow motion, and fans are noticing it more than ever. The question is, how much longer can McLaren keep this up?
McLaren’s Slow Pitstops
This season has been a rollercoaster, with McLaren’s pitstop issues making headlines again and again. One of the more recent highlights, or should I say lowlights, was Oscar Piastri’s 5.25-second stop at Singapore, which cost him vital seconds and a chance at the podium. Then there was Norris’s sluggish 5.87-second pit at Monza, which actually contributed to controversy around the team orders.
In a sport where precious milliseconds make all the difference, these slowdowns feel like an anchor weighing down what could have been a stellar season for McLaren.
Andrea Stella Identifies The Problem
McLaren’s problems seem to boil down to one thing: consistency. They’re capable of lightning-fast pit stops (just ask anyone who saw Piastri’s jaw-dropping 1.91-second stop at Monza), but then they’re also plagued by painfully slow ones exceeding 3 seconds, often more. And it’s these longer stops that have the team management scratching their heads. The root cause?
According to team boss Andrea Stella, it’s hardware-related, specifically the design of wheel guns that make their pit stops more complex than they should be. McLaren believes they can sharpen things up in the short term, but the full fix isn’t expected until 2026.
What’s even more frustrating for fans and drivers alike is that these slow pit stops aren’t just annoying blips on the team’s radar; they impact race results. Norris and Piastri’s races have been compromised multiple times because of these delays, costing them positions and points. McLaren has acknowledged the issue and is working tirelessly to improve, reviewing every aspect from mechanics’ techniques to equipment upgrades. But given the frequency of these slowdowns, it’s clear that operational challenges still linger.
Interestingly, despite the ongoing struggles, there’s no sign of bias toward one driver over the other in pitstop times. Both Norris and Piastri have roughly similar averages, debunking theories that the team favours one. This fairness in pitstop performance underscores that the issues are systemic, not driver-specific.
In the upcoming races, fans can expect McLaren to keep battling its pitstop demons. With the driver’s championship slipping away and Red Bull and Mercedes surging ahead, every second counts. If McLaren can tighten its pit crew’s performance, it might just turn some races around. But for now, the slow pitstops are a hurdle they’ll have to overcome, one that could make or break their 2025 campaign.
So, stay tuned, F1 fans. McLaren’s race to fix their pitstop woes continues, and whether they can leave this hiccup behind remains one of the season’s most intriguing stories.
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