Making do with limited means
Compared to their Mercedes and Ferrari-engined opponents, McLaren, Red Bull and Toro Rosso tried to compensate for their lack of horsepower by mounting extreme low-drag rear wings that sometimes did not even feature any horizontal slits on the endplates.
Still, the top-end speed gap remained quite significant, as highlighted by the following figures: Jenson Button was the fastest of the rest during Saturday’s qualifying but still trailed Sergio Perez’ Mercedes-powered Force India by 11.6kph. On Sunday, Max Verstappen went 10.4kph slower than Kimi Raikkonen though the speed traps.
F1 minnows Manor’s scant resources meant they could not afford to design and build a specific and expensive package for Monza. Therefore, they used the very same rear wing assembly they had raced at Spa. The British team did ask FIA race director Charlie Whiting to run a design that would have only featured the wing’s main board, but to no avail.
