Oscar Piastri's first grand prix victory was shrouded in controversy when he was undercut by team-mate Lando Norris, who appeared reluctant to give the place back for 20 laps; the British driver insisted afterwards that he wanted to act in a "fair" way
Monday 22 July 2024 10:23, UK
Lando Norris insisted he was always going to surrender the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix to Oscar Piastri despite 20 controversial laps of wrangling over McLaren's team radio.
Pole-sitter Norris lost the lead to his team-mate at the first corner at the Hungaroring, but found himself back in front after the team allowed him to take his second pit stop before the Australian.
McLaren's decision was a tactical one to prevent Lewis Hamilton undercutting them and threatening a guaranteed one-two, and when Piastri stopped three laps after Norris he was assured he would be given the position back.
But despite repeated requests over team radio, Norris extended - rather than reduced - the gap at the front and only gave back the position with three laps remaining after a series of tetchy messages.
"I know what I'm going to do, I know what I'm not going to do," Norris explained after the incidents which overshadowed Piastri's first F1 win.
"Of course, I'm going to question it and challenge it, and that's what I did.
"I was going to wait until the last lap, the last corner but then they said if there was a Safety Car all of a sudden then I couldn't let Oscar go through, it would have made me look like a bit of an idiot. Then I was like, 'yeah, it's a fair point'. And straight away I let him go."
Norris insisted the back-and-forth with race engineer Will Joseph would not have been necessary if McLaren had pitted Piastri first.
The Briton, who was seeking only his second career F1 victory and a chance to further close the gap on world championship leader Max Verstappen, conceded that he did not deserve the win.
"I know that I always was going to give it back unless they changed their mind on what they were saying and they didn't, so all good," he added.
"I got put into the lead rather than wanting to. I feel like we made things way too hard for ourselves and way too tricky for ourselves. We should have just boxed Oscar first and things would have been simple.
"But they gave me the lead and I gave it back. So I shouldn't have won today. I didn't deserve to win because of my start and Oscar's good start. That's that."
Norris conceded that it was hurtful to give up another victory after failing to convert opportunities at Silverstone and Austria, but he wants to be known as a "fair" driver.
"It's tough," he told Sky Sports F1. "It would be tough for anyone when you're leading the race to give it up.
"I was obviously put in the position. They made me box first and gave me the chance to lead the race and pull away quite comfortably and to do what I was doing.
"They also gave me the opportunity to do so. Therefore I think it was fair to give the position back. I don't want to come across as the guy who is not fair. Oscar has done a lot for me in the past and helped me in many races.
"He drove a better race than I did. He got a good start, a better start and mine sucked. He deserved it and it was the right thing to do.
"It hurts any time you're going to give away a win and give it to someone. I know I shouldn't have had it in the first place, which is I think the main point."
Lap 1: Norris gets away well but so does Piastri, who gets past his team-mate to take the lead at the first corner.
Lap 33: Piastri has a wobble at Turn 11 and runs off track, dirtying his tyres and seeing his lead over Norris cut dramatically.
Lap 39: Norris is told over radio that he can race the other papaya car "until the mid 40s".
Lap 45: Norris gets the call to stop first. Piastri is told that it is to cover off an undercut from Lewis Hamilton.
Lap 48: Piastri comes in. The order of the stops means he has lost the lead to his team-mate.
Lap 49: Norris is told over the radio that the team would like him to give the place back to Piastri "at his convenience". However, Piastri runs onto the gravel and the gap between them extends to 3.3s.
Lap 51: Piastri is told: "Once you get to Lando, we will swap the positions but we want to avoid Lando giving up a lot of race time."
Lap 55: Norris is told: "We need you to save more tyres please. We do want to let Oscar through." He responds: "Erm… well you should have boxed him first then."
Engineer Will Joseph adds: "It doesn't matter." Norris replies: "I mean… it does to me, maybe."
Lap 57: A message to Norris states: "Lando, we still think you're using the tyres too much at Turn Four and Turn 11 and the rears at exit Turn Six and Turn Nine. Oscar is 3.5. I know you'll do the right thing."
Lap 61: Another message to Norris: "Ok Lando, 10 laps to go. We think both cars are using their tyres too much. Just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have."
Norris replies: "Yeah, well tell him to catch up then please."
Lap 63: Engineer Will Joseph: "Lando, he can't catch you up. You've proved your point, and it really doesn't matter."
"He's on much quicker tyres," Norris replies. "I mean I would have tried to undercut anyway. If I didn't I would have gone long."
Joseph: "Mate, we did the stop sequence in this order for the good of the team. I've tried to protect you mate. I promise I'm trying to protect you."
Lap 66: Another message to Norris: "There's five laps to go. The way to win a championship is not by yourself, it's with the team. You're going to need Oscar, and you're going to need the team."
A message from Piastri: "The longer we leave this, the riskier it gets."
The response is: "Understood Oscar, we are managing it."
Lap 67: Another message to Norris: "If there's a Virtual Safety Car now it's going to make this very awkward. Please. Do it now."
Lap 68: Norris lets Piastri through. The words on team radio are: "Yeah, you don't need to say anything."
Norris' late concession ensured that Piastri, who qualified second on the grid, was able to celebrate his first grand prix victory, becoming the seventh different driver to win this season.
He insisted that swapping the cars was the "fair" thing to do and claimed he always had faith in his McLaren team-mate.
"I had a lot of trust in the team and Lando," Piastri told Sky Sports F1.
"Lando was fast at the end, that was clear, but the strategies we went onto meant it was effectively an undercut for him and I think it was a fair decision to swap us back at the end.
"We discussed a lot last night and this morning about how the race would look. We were free to race each other and both try to win the race as long as we finished one and two and I think that's more or less what we did.
"I think a lot of really good planning, a lot of good discussions and open discussions allowed us to have a lot of trust and respect for each other and not have to worry about situations like this."
In the past, many F1 teams have prioritised the driver who is ahead in the drivers' championship and Piastri accepts Norris would have found it difficult to give up the lead.
"In Lando's position I could understand he'd want to keep position," he added. "Of course it's only natural.
"From my point of view, I did all the right things in the first half of the race until the last pit stop and the only reason we pitted the cars the way we did was to cover off different people and that naturally meant that he undercut me.
"Of course it's never the easiest thing to work out, but I think we are all respectful and trustful enough to see the reasons why, no matter what side of it we are on."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained the team discusses scenarios such as these before each race and that helped with the drivers' decision-making in the heat of battle.
"There's an entire approach to racing that we have with our team and drivers," he told Sky Sports F1.
"We are in this trajectory together. None of us - the team, Lando or Oscar - can go alone. That's the message that we discussed on Sunday morning.
"With racing drivers you need to refresh this message. That's why we have this meeting every Sunday."
The switch means Norris' deficit to Verstappen in the drivers' standings is 76 points rather than 69 points and Stella expected his racer to be frustrated with the decision.
"I don't know any race driver that when he is leading a race would be happy to say 'oh yeah, of course, why don't we swap back the positions to the previous order?'" he added.
"That's not possible, that's not the nature of the drivers. I would be extremely worried. You would see me very concerned if Lando would say so."
The action continues next weekend with the final race before F1's summer break, the Belgian Grand Prix. You can watch every session from Spa-Francorchamps live on Sky Sports F1 from July 26-28. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
