Formula 1 is all about numbers. It’s all about competition. Every driver and team does its best to outperform the others—to be the benchmark and set a standard. At the end of the season, drivers aim to win the Drivers’ Championship. For teams, it’s the Constructors’ Championship. Although that may seem like the end of it, there’s another title every team strives for. While the Grill The Grid title is quite elusive among drivers, the teams—rather, their pit crews—want the DHL Fastest Pit Stop title. Red Bull sets the standard almost every season, but at the Qatar GP, Lando Norris & Co. became the new benchmark.

F1 on track is not a level playing field. If you need proof, Red Bull has won all but one of the 17 races in 2023. The other teams literally needed a bad weekend for Red Bull to capitalize. But if there’s any aspect of F1 with a level playing field, it’s the pit stops. Now that McLaren has challenged Red Bull’s long-standing supremacy, the Milton-Keynes outfit is ready to hit back.

Lando Norris & Co. need to watch their backs

In the time it takes to read this sentence, F1 teams would have completed a double-stack pit stop. That’s how quick they are. That’s how quick they need to be. In a sport that’s all about numbers and the smallest of margins, pit stops are a crucial part of achieving success. They’re the perfect example of why F1 is a team sport. While it may seem like an individual battle, with drivers competing against each other, it’s much more than that. The competitive spirit of the drivers seeps down to their teams and pit crews as well. And Red Bull is ready to take back what it lost.

F1 established the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award after every race to “recognize outstanding teamwork and performance from the unsung heroes who make a vital contribution to the drivers’ success on the track.” Had it not been for Ferrari’s second pit stop for Michael Schumacher at the 2000 Japanese GP, he wouldn’t have won the championship. Had it not been for Ferrari’s messed up stop for Felipe Massa at the 2008 Singapore GP, he could’ve been a champion. Pit stops can make or break drivers’ chances. At the 2019 Brazilian GP, Max Verstappen won his third race of the season after Red Bull performed a staggering 1.82s pit stop. For four years, that’s been the record that no one has been able to match. But it all changed at the 2023 Qatar GP.

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In a race filled with pitlane action, Lando Norris came in for his second stop, and McLaren finished it in 1.80s. Can you imagine? Now that McLaren has stolen that record from Red Bull, one of its key mechanics, Calum Nicholas, sent warning shots to the Woking team. He said, “Those guys worked super hard on their pitstops, they put in the hours. They’ve done an amazing bit of work. So not annoyed at McLaren at all. On the other hand, I would very much like it back. I imagine that all of my colleagues feel the same way. So now it’s just a case of get your head down, get practicing, and let’s see if we can get it, get it back to where we believe it belongs.”

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Nicholas certainly believes that Red Bull will get that title back. As the Milton-Keynes squad tries to reclaim the record, it may also have to protect itself from McLaren’s charge on track.

McLaren is coming for Red Bull in 2024

This year, Red Bull has been invincible. At this point, that slight blip in Singapore is so inconsequential, especially considering it’s already sealed both titles. Since the first race, Verstappen and Red Bull have been the benchmark. While Ferrari and Mercedes have made significant gains to close the gap, neither has been as effective as McLaren’s charge. Following a miraculous turnaround, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been getting the most out of their MCL60s. Although Verstappen won his third championship at the Qatar GP, Piastri stole the show.

On Saturday, he qualified on pole for the Sprint and converted it into a first F1-level win. As a rookie. On Sunday, he recovered from P6 to finish P2. On all four competitive outings; he outperformed his experienced teammate, Norris. Discussing what the field may look like in 2024, F1 mogul Eddie Jordan placed his bets on Piastri. He told TalkSPORT, “McLaren at the moment and Oscar Piastri is just fabulous, and he is the only real one I can see emerging that could take it to Verstappen in years to come. And let’s hope that happens because for a young kid, rookie of the year, to come in and win that Sprint Race on Saturday and finish second on Sunday was simply staggering.” 

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McLaren has beaten Red Bull in pit stops. Can Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri challenge the Milton-Keynes squad’s supremacy on track in 2024?