{"id":37551,"date":"2025-10-07T09:45:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T13:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37551"},"modified":"2025-10-08T05:19:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:19:41","slug":"mclaren-confirm-new-pit-stop-equipment-wont-arrive-until-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/10\/07\/mclaren-confirm-new-pit-stop-equipment-wont-arrive-until-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren confirm new pit-stop equipment won’t arrive until 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the title battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris<\/a> enters its final stages, there has been a notable increase in intensity. From controversial Monza team orders to contact in Singapore, the tension at McLaren is clearly on the rise.<\/p>\n

To some degree this is inevitable, in spite of Andrea Stella and Zak Brown’s best attempts<\/a> to control the situation. Whichever papaya driver emerges victorious, the driver on the opposite side of the garage will have understandable frustrations.<\/p>\n

As is expected in a title battle, every aspect of McLaren’s races are scrutinised – including their pit-stops. As revealed last weekend, Andrea Stella have identified the cause for some of their slow stops.<\/p>\n

However, the Italian team principal admits the fixes for the team’s pit-stop equipment will not arrive until 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The McLaren pit crew prepare for a pit stop during practice in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Alastair Staley\/LAT Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andrea Stella explains McLaren pit-stop issue<\/h2>\n

Formula 1 is a sport, perhaps more than any other, defined by fine margins. This might seem a slightly amusing claim, given the likes of Max Verstappen<\/a> and Lewis Hamilton<\/a> have won many Championships in dominant fashion.<\/p>\n

With that said, this year’s title battle is a reminder of how every position is critical. Both Norris and Piastri could point to several races where vital points were won and lost.<\/p>\n

When all is said and done, this year’s runner-up will be forced to accept that plenty of points were left on the table. In this context, it cannot be a surprise that McLaren’s team orders in Monza were so poorly received. Since then, the papaya team’s intervention in Italy has created more problems for their internal dynamic.<\/p>\n

Returning to the Italian GP, it was a slow pit-stop that created the headache in the first place. Norris has suffered many poor stops in recent months, including three out of four races (Zandvoort, Monza, Baku) serving as recent examples.<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri was the recipient of a slow stop last weekend in Singapore, adding to McLaren’s increasingly messy track record in the pit-lane. Team principal Andrea Stella<\/a> says the root cause of these incidents has been identified.<\/p>\n

Crucially, though, the solutions will not be ready for this season:<\/p>\n

“If you average all the stops of the season,”<\/em> Stella explained in Singapore<\/a>, “his [Norris’] and Oscar’s times are almost identical. The fact that he was the one most affected recently is pure coincidence.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Pit stops are a combination of people and equipment. We’ve discovered that our tool design – for example, the impact wrenches – makes the process a bit more complicated than it should be.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We’re improving that. But the hardware adjustments won’t come until next year. We know that our hardware design makes the crew’s work more complicated than it needs to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We’re applying fixes now, but they won’t be available until next year. At the same time, the crew is training intensively on the dummy vehicle at the factory.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
The McLaren pit crew in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More controversies inevitable in the title race<\/h4>\n

With just 22 points separating Piastri and Norris, the stakes will only increase at the upcoming Gran Prix. This is something McLaren must navigate – ideally with more success than they have since the summer break so far.<\/p>\n

Critically, Max Verstappen has rapidly reduced the gap to the papaya duo in the last four rounds. Assuming Red Bull<\/a> can challenge for victory in the upcoming rounds, the Championship equation could become even more complicated for the Woking-based operation.<\/p>\n

In such an environment, slow stops and other operational shortcomings could be detrimental. Both Piastri and Norris will keep their fingers crossed for a clean end to the campaign.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Mark Thompson\/Getty Images (via McLaren media gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the title battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris enters its final stages, there has been a notable increase in intensity. From controversial Monza team orders to contact in Singapore, the tension at McLaren is clearly on the rise. To some degree this is inevitable, in spite of Andrea Stella and Zak Brown’s best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[1959,2452,444,2494,1569],"class_list":["post-37551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-andrea-stella","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-lando-norris","tag-mcl39","tag-oscar-piastri"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37551"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37564,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37551\/revisions\/37564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}