How Did Verstappen Know About Norris' Slow Stop In Italy? - F1 Q&a

Red Bull's Max Verstappen converted rod to a title triumph astatine nan Italian Grand Prix.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri was fixed squad orders to fto Lando Norris past for second, precocious successful nan race, aft a slot pit extremity for nan Briton..

Piastri leads nan title by 31 points from team-mate Norris.

BBC Sport F1 analogous Andrew Benson answers your latest questions aft nan title astatine Monza.

Thinking astir nan conflict betwixt nan McLaren drivers for nan championship, to what grade does a driver person their ain squad successful F1? To what grade are location group moving solely to thief Norris aliases Piastri win, alternatively than conscionable to maximise McLaren's points? - Danielle

The easiest measurement to deliberation astir it is that Formula 1 teams are divided into 2 parts that activity to nan aforesaid management. The drivers are competing pinch each other, but successful nan interests of nan team.

So, successful McLaren's case, Norris and Piastri person their ain sides of nan car shed for their cars. On each side, location is simply a squad of mechanics and engineers moving connected their car.

Norris has his ain title technologist and capacity engineer, truthful does Piastri. Each driver is free to take their ain set-up to fine-tune their car.

Beyond nan individual car set-up - suspension settings, level of downforce and truthful distant - fundamentally, some cars are successful nan aforesaid specification.

The objection to that astatine McLaren is that nan squad came up pinch a typical suspension portion earlier this play to thief Norris woody pinch what he was emotion arsenic a numbness from nan beforehand axle.

This alteration was aimed astatine giving him much consciousness done nan steering wheel. He adopted it successful Canada. It was disposable to some drivers, but Piastri has chosen not to usage it.

That's because it was not a capacity portion per se. It did not springiness nan car much velocity of itself, though it mightiness person allowed Norris to entree much velocity from nan car himself.

That, though, is rather an different situation.

That's wherever individualism stops, retired of nan car. Debriefs astir nan sessions are collective, including some drivers. Race strategy is planned collectively - though nan drivers successful this lawsuit are free to deviate from nan scheme if it amended suits their title against each other, arsenic was seen successful Hungary.

Then nan lights spell out, and nan drivers title against each other. But they person to abide by nan team's rules of racing, aliases what squad main Andrea Stella calls "our principles and racing values".

How did Verstappen cognize astir Norris' slow stop? Was location a power connection we didn't perceive aliases did he conscionable activity it retired from his technologist saying him and Piastri were swapping places? Is he immoderate much observant than immoderate different driver connected nan grid, do you think? - Harvey

This is simply a reference to nan power speech betwixt Verstappen and his technologist Gianpiero Lambiase successful which Lambiase told him Norris and Piastri had swapped positions. Verstappen replied: "Ha! Because he had a slow stop?"

Red Bull opportunity Verstappen was not told astir nan swap, and that he would person seen it connected nan elephantine tv screens astir nan track.

It's not different for F1 drivers to announcement these things. Having said that, Verstappen is decidedly 1 of nan much observant drivers. It's an illustration of really overmuch spare capacity he has successful nan car.

It's a characteristic that marks retired each nan greats.

The perfectly champion drivers person to usage little of their full encephalon capacity to thrust nan car to nan limit. That gives them plentifulness of intelligence abstraction to deliberation astir different things.

Verstappen is simply a premier illustration of this. Fernando Alonso is another. The driving comes truthful people to them that they person truthful overmuch clip and headspace to process different information.

Interesting to spot Charles Leclerc sitting successful nan dunes astatine Zandvoort aft his crash, checking his phone. Does that mean he and different F1 drivers return their mobile telephone into their title car? - Jan

No, Formula 1 drivers do not return their smartphones into nan car pinch them!

In Zandvoort, nan layout of nan circuit meant that Leclerc could not get backmost to nan paddock without going past a grandstand afloat of fans. He thought that was astir apt not a bully idea, truthful he stayed wherever he was until he could get a assistance backmost from a motorcycle.

The telephone came from a photographer he knows well, who happened to beryllium nearby. Leclerc borrowed it for a time.

Is Yuki Tsunoda retired of a title spot adjacent season? His only dream appears to beryllium reserve pinch Aston Martin erstwhile they go a Honda useful team. - Nick

Tsunoda is not retired of a spot yet, but nan timepiece is surely ticking.

After nan Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull squad main Laurent Mekies was keen not to criticise Tsunoda excessively much, pointing retired that he was successful postulation and past had harm to his level aft a conflict pinch Liam Lawson.

But Mekies did admit that "it's adjacent to opportunity we person much activity to do connected title gait than qualifying gait pinch Yuki". And that's aft Tsunoda qualified 10th, 0.727 seconds slower than team-mate Verstappen, who was connected pole.

Tsunoda did not person nan caller level disposable to Verstappen, but that does not explicate nan immense gap.

So, not precisely a ringing endorsement.

Mekies said aft nan Dutch Grand Prix that Red Bull were going to return their clip making nan decision, arsenic location was nary request to unreserved it.

But it's very clear that Tsunoda is moving retired of clip to make his lawsuit to beryllium retained adjacent year. And it looks for illustration Isack Hadjar is successful premier spot to beryllium promoted to that spot from Racing Bulls.

On different Red Bull-related topic, it's notable that, aft a very difficult mates of races successful Belgium and Hungary, Red Bull look to beryllium making advancement successful knowing their car.

Verstappen was 2nd successful nan Netherlands - an on-merit third, if you facet successful Norris' status - and now he has won astatine Monza.

An upturn successful capacity was expected because of nan circuit characteristics, but not to this extent.

And it has not gone unnoticed that this upturn has coincided pinch Mekies getting his feet nether nan table.

In Italy, Verstappen had affirmative things to opportunity astir his caller boss.

"Up until now we've had a batch of races wherever we were conscionable shooting near and correct a small spot pinch nan set-up of nan car. Quite utmost changes, which shows that we were not successful control," Verstappen said.

"We were not afloat knowing what to do. With Laurent having an engineering background, he's asking nan correct questions to nan engineers – common-sense questions – truthful I deliberation that useful really well."

Mekies himself said: "My only domiciled is to make judge nan talent we person are put successful nan correct positions to definitive their talents. We want to get to nan maximum imaginable knowing of what has constricted nan task this year."

Red Bull had a caller level successful Monza, and, dissimilar past year, they had designed circumstantial low-downforce helping for nan track.

Mekies was reluctant to tie excessively galore conclusions arsenic to whether Red Bull's measurement guardant would proceed into nan pursuing races.