Hungarian GP: Oscar Piastri overcomes controversial McLaren strategy to claim maiden Grand Prix victory

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris congratulate one another

Oscar Piastri survived a controversial call from McLaren to win the Hungarian Grand Prix after the team’s strategy benefitted Lando Norris on a day when Max Verstappen also lost his cool with Red Bull.

Although Piastri led until the second round of pit stops, McLaren gave Norris the undercut with the instruction to “re-establish the order” which the Briton, into the lead as a result, refused to do for some 20 laps.

Radio arguments should win ‘Star of the Day’ at the Hungarian GP

Back-and-forth on the radio with McLaren as he argued his cause, Norris eventually moved over to allow Piastri through into the lead with the Aussie racing to his maiden Grand Prix win ahead of Norris. Lewis Hamilton was third.

McLaren wasn’t the only team blighted by ill-tempered radio as Verstappen argued with his race engineer as Red Bull’s strategy cost him places in both pit stops, before he finally wrecked his own chances of securing a podium as he clipped Hamilton late in the race, went airborne, and lost P4 to Charles Leclerc.

The Hungarian GP: A slow burn that ignited

There was drama for pole-sitter Lando Norris on the grid as McLaren worked furiously to resolve a throttle problem. With McLaren declaring his car okay and ready for the start, the Briton took his place on pole position dreaming of a second F1 Grand Prix victory.

Quick off the line, Oscar Piastri challenged his team-mate for the lead, the two McLarens going three abreast into Turn 1 along with Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver ran wide across the run-off as Piastri took the lead, Verstappen returned to the track in second place, Norris was third and Lewis Hamilton was up to P4.

Carlos Sainz, who started fourth, dropped to seventh behind Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso, who started on soft tyres. Verstappen, arguing his case for being forced off, was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Red Bull came over the radio and told him to give the place to Norris to negate an investigation, which he promptly did.

Behind them, Sainz grabbed sixth off Alonso, Alex Albon was up to ninth from 13th on the grid and Kevin Magnussen was inside the points from 15th. But seven laps in Albon and Magnussen’s soft tyres began to fall off and they were into the pits for the hard Pirellis. Alonso was in the next lap, along with Ricciardo.

As the top six, Piastri to Sainz, settled into their rhythm in the first stint, behind them the running order was changing as drivers pitted while George Russell and Sergio Perez, having started on the hard tyres, made progress before being stuck behind ninth-placed Valtteri Bottas.

The numbers that matter after the Hungarian Grand Prix

 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Hungarian Grand Prix

 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hamilton was the first of the top six to blink, mediums to hard tyres on lap 17. Meanwhile, good news for Russell as Bottas pitted, freeing up the second Mercedes and Perez. Norris, trailing Piastri by almost four seconds, was the next in… and Red Bull left Verstappen out! But the Dutchman was complaining that he “can’t brake” and “can’t turn”.

As the pit stops played out, Piastri was in a lap after his team-mate, two laps later Verstappen came in along with Sainz and then Leclerc. The latter’s stop put Piastri back into P1, three seconds up on Norris, who was two ahead of Hamilton with Verstappen a further five back.

Fighting for a points finish, the Aston Martin drivers double-teamed Hulkenberg for position, Albon complained about Williams’ “Plan B”, Perez pitted from ninth after 29 laps on the hard tyres, and Tsunoda pitted which freed up Russell, who finally pitted on lap 34.

McLaren ran 1-2 midway through the 70-lap race with Piastri ahead of Norris, while behind them Verstappen closed the gap on Hamilton in the fight for the final podium position. Verstappen launched his attack into Turn 1 and through 2 but ran wide to give the position back to Hamilton.

Complaining about his RB20, Verstappen fell back out of DRS range before building up a second challenge, but Hamilton stayed firm in his defending. Their battle allowed Leclerc to close the gap. Hamilton exited his tussle with Verstappen when he pitted on lap 41, Leclerc also in.

At the front, two scruffy laps from Piastri, including an off at Turn 11, saw Norris close to just over a second with the Briton told it’s “okay” to race his team-mate. But clearly it was not okay from Piastri’s side as he found some pace to put more space between himself and Norris.

Norris though, was called in first, stopping on lap 46 with Piastri in a lap later. Piastri was told not to worry about Norris, repeatedly, but he came out behind his team-mate by some two seconds. Norris was told by McLaren they wanted to “re-establish the order”. Verstappen, who briefly led, pitted on lap 50 but while his tyres were fresher than his nearest rivals’, he was P5 behind Norris, Piastri, Hamilton and Leclerc.

As Piastri tried to close in on his team-mate, told by McLaren if he caught up they’d swap the positions, Norris was also informed that he’d have to give the position to his team-mate. His reply: “Well you should have boxed him first then, surely no?” Bombarding Norris with messages to save his tyres, Will Joseph added: “I know you’ll do the right thing.”

There was also tension at Red Bull between Verstappen and his engineer as he complained about his “bull***t” strategy. He finally passed Leclerc for fourth on lap 58. He quickly dropped the Ferrari and closed in on Hamilton for third.

Challenging the Briton for position, Verstappen complained Hamilton didn’t leave him enough room. He tried to pass again into Turn x, braked late, locked up and clipped the Mercedes with the RB20 airborne. Childish was GP’s call on his driver’s radio antics. Verstappen lost fourth to Leclerc in the process.

Into the closing stint the back-and-forth between Norris and the McLaren pit wall continued. The Briton was told “just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have”, that he had “proved your point” and that in time he will later “need the team” and “need” Piastri to win a championship. And with three to go Norris slowed to give his team-mate the lead.

Piastri raced to the victory by two seconds ahead of Norris, who initially stuck to his team-mate’s rear wing as he hounded him before losing a few metres on the final lap. Hamilton joined them on the podium in third place.

Leclerc was fourth ahead of Verstappen, who is off to the stewards, and Sainz while Perez recovered from 16th to seventh. Russell, Tsunoda and Stroll completed the podium.

Hungarian Grand Prix 2024: Race classification

1 Oscar PIASTRI 1:38:01.989 70 laps
2 Lando NORRIS +2.141
3 Lewis HAMILTON +14.880
4 Charles LECLERC +19.686
5 Max VERSTAPPEN +21.349
6 Carlos SAINZ +23.073
7 Sergio PEREZ +39.792
8 George RUSSELL +42.368
9 Yuki TSUNODA +77.259
10 Lance STROLL +77.976
11 Fernando ALONSO +82.460
12 Daniel RICCIARDO +1 lap
13 Nico HULKENBERG +1 lap
14 Alexander ALBON +1 lap
15 Kevin MAGNUSSEN +1 lap
16 Valtteri BOTTAS +1 lap
17 Logan SARGEANT +1 lap
18 Esteban OCON +1 lap
19 Guanyu ZHOU +1 lap

Did not finish

Pierre Gasly Alpine lap 36 – hydraulic leak

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