One of the defining moments of the Japanese Grand Prix was when Lando Norris took to the grass to avoid Max Verstappen exiting the pits.
McLaren had spent the first half of the race behind Verstappen having dithered over whether they should pit earlier or later than the Dutchman, having initially called Norris in for an earlier pit stop.
Norris was told to stay out while Oscar Piastri pitted early, responding to the potential threat from George Russell who was the first of the leaders to pit.
The Briton would go on to pit at exactly the same time as Verstappen, which Anthony Davidson felt it was a mistake from McLaren after seeing Kimi Antonelli extend his first stint and using the clean air to gain time.
The net result of both drivers pitting at the same time was a race at pit exit, but Verstappen managed to hold on despite Norris attempting a move on the inside. Verstappen claimed Norris had switched off his pit limiter early, but Jolyon Palmer has seen data that suggests otherwise when speaking on F1 TV.
Jolyon Palmer refutes Max Verstappen’s pit limiter claim with data
Almost immediately after the skirmish between the two drivers, Norris came over the radio to say he was forced off the track by Verstappen.
Verstappen would refute it by saying Norris took to the grass on his own, then would later claim to his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase: “He pressed the pit limiter way too early. There’s no way that was legal.”
Looking at the incident between the two drivers, Palmer spotted something on the data which suggests Verstappen’s claim was not accurate.
“Max radioed in during the race saying he thinks Lando dropped the pit lane speed limiter early. The data shows that it wasn’t the case,” said Palmer.
“The speed builds up for Lando and actually Max is just a little bit sloppy to release his pit limiter, which added pressure and probably because of the switch change on his wheel and check of his mirror he’s missed it by a tenth of a second. So you’ve got Lando up the inside.”
Battle of the pit stops between McLaren and Red Bull
The Japanese GP came down to a battle of the pit stop crews between McLaren and Red Bull, and it was interesting to see who came out on top.
Going up against their rivals in this area was a bold decision from McLaren, given Red Bull have been the benchmark team for pit stops in recent years.
| Norris | Verstappen | |
| Pit stop time | 2.37s | 3.32s |
Looking at the pit stop times between the two teams, McLaren came out on top in Japan ahead of Red Bull by over a second.
It’s remarkable given that Norris was compromised entering his pit box by the Ferrari mechanics, while he also exited at an angle that required more steering lock.
Red Bull’s slow stop can be attributed to having two of their reserve mechanics on the team for the race, as members from the main crew had to leave the rest of the race weekend due to a family emergency.
