Juan Pablo Montoya tells Lando Norris he must now start keeping one secret from Oscar Piastri

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Lando Norris will hope that this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix marks the beginning of a stirring comeback. He has fallen 34 points behind McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri after a car failure in Zandvoort.

With nine race weekends remaining, three of which include a Sprint, there are nearly 250 points up for grabs. From that standpoint, the deficit doesn’t appear alarming.

But there has been so little to separate the two McLaren drivers all season. The gap after the summer break was just nine points, and it’s never been higher than 22.

As such, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Norris’ DNF at the Dutch GP – McLaren’s first mechanical retirement of the year – was a decisive moment. He needs to find another level, or hope for a major mishap on the other side of the garage, if he’s to outscore Piastri by 35 points.

Juan Pablo Montoya urges Lando Norris not to show Oscar Piastri his hand in practice

Speaking on the AS Colombia YouTube channel, former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya offered Norris some advice ahead of the race in Monza.

Norris established himself as the favourite heading into Dutch GP qualifying by sweeping all three practice sessions. It’s the fifth time this year he’s topped FP3 and then lost out on pole (after Japan, Saudi Arabia, Imola and Canada).

As a result, Montoya suspects that he’s showing his hand too early in the weekend. This gives his rivals, above all Piastri, the chance to analyse where he’s so strong, and make the necessary adjustments to their own driving.

Going forward, Montoya wants the Englishman to keep some pace in reserve. He started on pole in Italy last year but dropped to third in the race.

“It’s very sad that he dominated the whole weekend and basically showed Piastri what to do all weekend, and in the end, Piastri did better again,” said Montoya.

“So it’s a good lesson, it’s a good way to look at things – if you have something, save a little bit, because now, the truth is, you can use it and make a difference.

“If you keep making the difference in practice, your teammate understands, analyses and changes. They look at your differential, your pedals and what you’re doing.

“You can adapt a lot to the other driver and learn a lot. And that’s what Piastri did last weekend.

“So that’s where not showing all your cards comes into play. If Lando knows he’s doing well, he shouldn’t show everything he’s got right from the start of the weekend.”

Will Lando Norris have a penalty for the Italian Grand Prix after McLaren car failure?

Max Verstappen says Norris must put his DNF behind him because it was out of his control. He was on course for second place in the race, which would have meant the gap to Piastri was a far less daunting 16 points.

Verstappen won his first title in 2021 and showcased commendable resilience. Norris now faces the ultimate test in that regard.

Norris’ engineer sounded heartbroken on the radio, so it will be a challenge for every McLaren employee on that side of the garage to pick themselves up. He and Piastri are vying to become the team’s first drivers’ champion since 2008.

As reported by Lawrence Barretto, Norris has taken a new engine for Monza, but this was a pre-planned change and won’t trigger a penalty. The issue originated from the chassis, rather than the power unit, and has now been rectified.