Oscar Piastri secured his maiden Formula One victory, winning the Hungarian Grand Prix after a messy situation unfolded within McLaren in the final 20 or so laps.
The final round of pit stops saw Lando Norris pit before Piastri, the intention being to cover off Lewis Hamilton and not to undercut Piastri. The Australian driver, who led a good portion of the race after taking the lead on the opening lap, was told over the radio when the pit stop happened, “Don’t worry about Lando.”
But when Piastri pitted soon after, he emerged behind Norris. Verstappen pitted from the lead, and it was a McLaren 1-2, with Norris leading.
The prospect of Piastri’s maiden win seemed out of reach after that round of pit stops. Until team orders were issued. McLaren told Norris over the radio to “re-establish the order at your convenience.” And Piastri was later told that once he caught up to Norris, they’d swap positions. But Norris didn’t listen at first, going silent at points on the team.
At one point, his race engineer said, “Oscar’s 3.5. I know you’ll do the right thing.”
With five laps to go, Norris was told over the radio, “The way to win a championship is with the team. You’re going to need Oscar; you’re going to need the team.” Norris slowed on the pit straight with three laps to go and let his teammate by. There were ways to avoid this messy situation, like pitting Piastri before Norris.
The gap to Hamilton was 25.5 seconds when Norris pitted, and as the final laps unfolded, the McLarens both built a healthy gap to the Mercedes driver. Norris was warned that McLaren wasn’t thrilled with his tire saving, meaning he needed to slow down. But it was also on Piastri to catch up to his teammate.
“Thank you everybody, thank you very much. Thanks for the coordination. Sorry I made the swap a little bit more painful than it needed to be, but thank you, appreciate that, well done,” Piastri said on the radio after taking his first win, serene as ever.
(Lead photo of Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
