Andrea Stella admits Red Bull rival Max Verstappen’s Monza win showed what McLaren ‘have to learn’

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen mastered Monza to win the Italian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren ace Lando Norris with the biggest winning margin of the 2025 F1 season yet.

The pinnacle of motorsport made its annual pilgrimage to the Temple of Speed last week for round 16 of this year’s 24 and the last race in the European leg of the 2025 season. Italy also staged the start of the European tour with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola this May.

Verstappen is even now the master of Italy, having won the Emilia Romagna GP and also the Italian GP in 2025. The two races, 10 rounds apart, also mark the Red Bull driver’s two most recent Grand Prix wins. His only other win this term is April’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

But while Suzuka saw one of the smallest winning margins of the 2025 F1 season to date, as Verstappen beat Norris to win the Japanese GP by 1.423 seconds, Monza saw the largest so far at 19.207s. The average winning margin this term is now 5.070s after Sunday’s Italian GP.

Red Bull showed McLaren ‘have to learn’ to optimise a low-downforce set-up at the Italian Grand Prix

Verstappen recorded F1’s fastest-ever lap to score pole position at Monza, as well, before he went on to win the Italian GP in 73 minutes and 24.325 seconds. The 2025 Italian GP is now the fastest-ever F1 race, as Verstappen set an average speed of 250.706km/h (155.791mph).

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella feels Red Bull and Verstappen’s optimisation of a low-downforce set-up at Monza was key to the 27-year-old beating Norris to pole and the win at the Italian GP. Stella also admits McLaren did not expect Verstappen to open such a big lead.

So, Stella thinks the Italian GP showed McLaren that they must learn from the way Red Bull designed Verstappen’s RB21 to be “extremely efficient” with a small rear wing. Red Bull cut as much off their wing as they could to balance their car and increase its straight-line speed.

Stella said, via quotes by Motorsport-Total: “We didn’t expect to see such a big gap. But Red Bull are extremely efficient with small rear wings. We’re not designing our car around that, we have to learn from that. We want to be competitive on all tracks, not just certain ones.”

McLaren’s pit stop strategy exaggerated Max Verstappen’s Italian GP winning margin at Monza

Red Bull have tended to struggle to optimise the RB21 this season due to the balance issues that have emerged when using a higher-downforce rear wing, as it upsets the front wing on Verstappen’s car. But Red Bull did not need to run with increased front downforce at Monza.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

So, the RB21 worked in its optimal operating window around Monza, and Verstappen could beat Norris to pole position and also win the Italian GP. But the four-time defending drivers’ champion’s winning margin at Monza of 19.207s was slightly inflated by McLaren’s strategy.

As McLaren quickly realised they could not win on pure pace at Monza after Verstappen re-passed Norris after their Turn 1 incident in the Italian GP when the Dutchman shortcut the Rettifilo chicane, the Woking natives gambled on a long first stint with both of their drivers.

While Verstappen pitted on Lap 37 of 53 with a 5.075s lead over Norris and a further 6.208s gap back to Oscar Piastri in P3, McLaren kept their duo out until Laps 46 and 45. Verstappen had already reduced his deficit to them to 8.010s and 6.259s before they came into the pits.

Verstappen’s lead even grew to 18.318s after McLaren’s slow pit stop hurt Norris and led to their team orders controversy at Monza. So, while Red Bull’s low-downforce set-up was key in qualifying and in the race, McLaren’s strategy exaggerated Verstappen’s winning margin.