Is Hamilton right McLaren threw victory away by “killing their tyres”? · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton believes his former team McLaren squandered their chance to win the Italian Grand Prix by putting their drivers on two-stop strategies.

McLaren locked out the front row of the grid for today’s race but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc split their two drivers at the start. While both McLaren drivers pitted twice, Leclerc only came in once, and took the chequered flag first.

Hamilton is convinced McLaren could have made a success of Leclerc’s winning strategy. “Looking at the race trace, I think McLaren had the pace, they just pushed too hard,” he told Sky. “They were doing much too fast laps early on and killed their tyres.”

He believes McLaren’s strategists were too hesitant to consider alternatives to two pit stops. “I guess they literally had planned for a two-stop,” said Hamilton. “That’s why they were pushing so hard.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Monza, 2024 — Piastri’s lap times were still strong late in his first stint

“If they had just backed off and gone longer they could for sure have made a one-stop. But I was getting the information of the times they were doing, and there’s no way your tyres are going to last at that pace.”

The idea McLaren were wedded to a two-stop strategy is underlined by the haste with which they brought Lando Norris into the pits, seizing the opportunity to “undercut” Leclerc for second place. Norris was shaping up to pass Leclerc on the track at the time.

Two laps later, McLaren brought Oscar Piastri in from the lead. His lap times were holding up well compared to the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jnr, which had also not yet pitted. McLaren appeared to bring him less due to the state of his tyres and more because they didn’t want to let him fall behind Norris and Leclerc, who swapped positions through their first pit stops.

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After the race Piastri dismissed the idea that pushing too hard early on made the one-stop strategy impossible for McLaren. However he conceded they could have approached the race differently in terms of both tactics and, crucially, driving technique.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Monza, 2024 — Leclerc nursed his front-left to the finish

“I need to go back and look at what the graining level on Charles was when I pitted for the second time. Up until that point it was you know a pretty controlled race. We felt pretty early on that it was a two-stop race and maybe, in hindsight, there are things we could have done a bit differently from obviously a strategy point of view, but also a driving point of view to keep the options open a little bit more.

“But if the information I got is right, on the radio, then it wasn’t really a matter of driving slower. It was just kind of sticking with the graining and getting through it.

“Which, given that in practice when that happened you basically couldn’t hit the brake pedal because you turned your front left into a 50 pence coin, it seemed like a very risky thing to do so. Obviously, it was the right thing in hindsight but everyone’s a lot smarter when the chequered flag falls.”

Norris believes Leclerc’s skilful nursing of his front-left tyre, minimising the graining, was what allowed him to make the one-stop strategy work and win the race.

“We tried, we knew it was a quicker thing to do, but I think we just killed the tyres a little bit too easily,” he said. “And like Oscar said, when you’re in third, it’s a much easier position to just try and risk and do such a thing. So I don’t think we can be too disappointed.

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“I think it was a lot riskier for us to try and do it than it was for Charles, and he made it work. So, yeah, hats off to them and Ferrari and himself because the driving part makes a big difference out there.”

2024 Italian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2024 Italian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2024 Italian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2024 Italian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

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2024 Italian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2024 Italian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank	#	Driver	Team	Complete stop time (s)	Gap to best (s)	Stop no.	Lap no.
1	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	23.793		1	16
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	24.03	0.237	2	35
3	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	24.146	0.353	1	31
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	24.15	0.357	2	41
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	24.155	0.362	2	37
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	24.169	0.376	1	14
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	24.203	0.41	2	30
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	24.209	0.416	2	36
9	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	24.313	0.52	1	19
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	24.335	0.542	1	10
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	24.41	0.617	1	33
12	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	24.469	0.676	1	15
13	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	24.501	0.708	2	35
14	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	24.551	0.758	1	15
15	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	24.67	0.877	2	38
16	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	24.728	0.935	1	23
17	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	24.801	1.008	1	17
18	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	24.866	1.073	1	12
19	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	24.87	1.077	2	32
20	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	24.98	1.187	1	19
21	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams	25.147	1.354	1	16
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	25.269	1.476	3	50
23	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	25.672	1.879	1	14
24	63	George Russell	Mercedes	26.297	2.504	2	33
25	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	27.138	3.345	1	15
26	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	28.198	4.405	1	22
27	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	30.317	6.524	1	11
28	63	George Russell	Mercedes	32.696	8.903	1	11
29	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	36.576	12.783	2	32
30	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	38.875	15.082	1	5