The cruel irony of a sport where competitors race in teams of two is that whenever one driver wins – be it a race victory or a world title – the other must lose.
No matter how gracious any Formula 1 driver is when their team mate collects the race winner’s trophy, that inherent desire to be the one hoisting that prize aloft instead cannot be easily quashed.So when circumstances conspire and leave teams facing the unsavoury prospect of requesting that one of their drivers voluntarily hands over the ultimate prize to the one who is often their closest competitor, conflict is inevitable.
David Coulthard did so for Mika Hakkinen twice in consecutive races in the late nineties – and later admitted he regretted it. Was Felipe Massa ever the same after being told that Fernando Alonso was faster than him at Hockenheim? Was a podium celebration ever more awkward than on that infamous afternoon in Austria back in 2002 after Rubens Barrichello waved Michael Schumacher through?
But when drivers choose to put themselves first, the results are rarely pretty. Sebastian Vettel picked himself over Mark Webber in Sepang, writing the phrase ‘multi-21’ into F1 folklore. Two decades prior, Ayrton Senna’s refusal to respect a pre-race agreement with Alain Prost at Imola was just another rip in their rapidly deteriorating relationship over 1989. And the Hungaroring was the stage where Lewis Hamilton and Alonso’s ill-tempered 2007 season truly turned irreparable.
At least McLaren had plenty of prior experience of flashpoints between their drivers to lean on for when they eventually returned to the front of the field again – half of those famed cases involved their drivers…
The opening races of the 2024 season were lukewarm affairs for McLaren but the team found its form after a successful upgrade in Miami. From Lando Norris’ win in that race onwards, McLaren had the car to win every time, though the Austrian and British rounds well to Mercedes.
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So when Norris and Oscar Piastri secured their team’s first front row lock-out of the V6 hybrid turbo era, narrowly denying Max Verstappen in the process, this was surely their best opportunity of the season so far to join Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes by becoming a multi-win team in 2024. All they had to do, as Piastri put it, was play it ‘smart’ in the race.
When the lights went out, Norris could tell within the first few metres that his lead was under threat into turn one. He pulled right in an attempt to deny Piastri the inside line, but the second McLaren was already beginning to overlap his own. At the same time, Verstappen was tucked up in Norris’s slipstream before pulling to the left to make it a three-wide affair into the braking zone for turn one.
Norris had to hold his line, with his team mate hugging the inside. As all three rounded the corner, Verstappen could tell there would be no room for him at the exit and took to the escape road, keeping his throttle foot planted as he did so and charging back onto the track ahead of Norris.
Having ‘gained’ a place from Norris, Verstappen came under attack at turn two – not from the McLaren, but Hamilton. The Mercedes tried a pass around the outside but was rejected, holding up Hamilton just enough for Norris to sweep by into third.
Once the leaders settled into their order, the inevitable lobbying over the radio began. Norris was adamant Verstappen should return second place to him. Verstappen insisted he had been unfairly forced off. After reviewing the footage, Red Bull gently suggested to their driver that he should take this one on the chin and allow Norris back through – which he did exiting turn one at the start of lap four, voicing his displeasure over the radio as he did so.
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This meant Piastri’s lead was just over two seconds from his team mate, with Verstappen ahead of Hamilton in third and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr in fourth and fifth. The race was always expected run to a two-stop, but even with the cooler track temperatures, drivers would have to be very cautious about how they used their tyres. Naturally the leaders settled into their rhythm early on, but the McLarens were able to pace themselves slightly faster than Verstappen behind, with the championship leader complaining about the balance of his RB20 fairly regularly.
Despite several runners near the rear of the field opting for early pit stops, it took until the end of lap 16 for anyone near the front to come in. Hamilton pitted for hard tyres, leading McLaren to respond by bringing in Norris – who had been just under five seconds ahead – on the next lap to ensure the Mercedes driver had no chance to undercut him over the following laps. With Hamilton successfully covered, McLaren could comfortably bring Piastri in from the lead on lap 18 and return him to the track still ahead of his team mate.
Red Bull and Ferrari were the last of the leaders to bring their cars in, returning Piastri and Norris to the front but with Hamilton now the nearest to them having jumped Verstappen with his earlier stop. Not exactly thrilled by having lost track position to one of his fiercest rivals, Verstappen channelled his frustrations into hunting down the Mercedes.
For over ten laps, Verstappen slowly reeled Hamilton in, eventually getting within the second he needed to activate DRS on lap 33. Two laps later, the Red Bull began closing on Hamilton down the pit straight, looming large in the Mercedes’ mirrors. Feeling pressured, Hamilton locked up into the first corner, which offered Verstappen a chance to get a better exit and drive around him out of the turn. However, Verstappen’s ill-balanced Red Bull refused to turn into the second corner and the world champion ran off the track, handing his position straight back to Hamilton.
This proved only a temporary reprieve for Hamilton as it was not long before Verstappen soon returned to harass him once again. But rather than ask their driver to continue defending from the Red Bull, Mercedes instead chose to pit Hamilton onto a second set of hards at the end of lap 40, leaving him with 30 laps to cover on his third and final stint.
Once again, Mercedes pitting Hamilton caught the attention of McLaren. Although his squabble with Verstappen meant he had dropped to over 10 seconds from Norris ahead, he was now lapping over a second a lap quicker than McLaren’s second-placed driver.
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Norris gradually fell back from his race-leading team mate after switching onto the hard tyres until lap 33, when a mistake from Piastri through turn 11 caused him to run off track and lose two seconds of his lead to his team mate. Almost as if Norris realised he could apply some pressure to his team mate and offer a challenge for the lead, he stayed within two seconds from then on. But soon McLaren decided it was time to cover the threat from Hamilton once again.
“The aim here, again, is not to undercut Oscar,” Norris’s engineer Will Joseph informed him. “We want to bring the tyres in to Hamilton who’s just leaving the final corner. Still a long way to go – 24 laps.”
Although the obvious move would have been for McLaren to bring Piastri in on the following lap, the leader was kept out for an extra lap before his stop for scrubbed mediums at the end of lap 47. Norris’s pace on fresher tyres than his team mate, coupled with a slightly delayed right-front wheel during Piastri’s stop, caused the two seconds between them to evaporate and meant that Piastri could only watch as the sister McLaren zoomed passed him on track as he hit the pit exit line.
McLaren knew that Piastri had likely just lost his maiden grand prix victory through no reasonable fault of his own. Facing the prospect of a catastrophic loss of trust from their second-year driver, McLaren’s only option of avoiding a major blow to their intra-team dynamic was to ask Norris to do the one thing that no Formula 1 driver ever wants to be asked by their team to do.
“We’d like you to re-establish the order at your convenience,” Joseph instructed his driver. Ominously for McLaren, he received no immediate reply.
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Piastri, fearing his win had gone, almost threw his entire race away by running out onto the gravel at the exit of turn 12. Despite two-lap younger tyres and having looked fairly comfortable out front over the first 45 laps of the race, Piastri appeared unable to close up the gap to his team mate ahead to offer Norris that “convenient” opportunity to swap the positions.
“I think the dirty air made a big difference,” Piastri later explained after the race. “I think, ultimately, I just wasn’t quite as quick as I needed to be in the last stint.”
As Norris continued to lead, he faced regular calls from Joseph to manage his tyres far more than he was doing. The subtext was clear, but Norris appeared more than happy to continue running at his own pace. As the laps progressed, Joseph’s calls for him to “do the right thing” became increasingly desperate, verging on emotional blackmail in efforts to salvage the situation he had been unwitting placed in by his team. But Norris continued to lead.
Verstappen had breezed past Charles Leclerc with little difficulty but Hamilton fought for his 200th podium appearance like it was his first, forcing the Red Bull wide at turn two again. Verstappen’s next opportunity came with DRS down the pit straight at the start of lap 63.
Alexander Albon’s lapped Williams provided an opportunity for the Red Bull to try and catch Hamilton off guard into turn one, but when the Mercedes turned into the corner, Verstappen locked up and hit Hamilton’s front-right wheel with his rear-left, bouncing him into the air. Although both cars were able to continue, the FIA informed Red Bull that F1 medical delegate, Dr Ian Roberts, would request to check Verstappen over after the race following his hard landing.
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But there might need to be psychological intervention necessary after the race at McLaren if Norris continued to refuse his orders to allow Piastri by before taking the chequered flag. By now, there were only a handful of laps remaining for him to do so and Norris’s lead had grown to over six seconds – larger than any lead Piastri had held over him in the first two stints of the race.
The driver who had led the bulk of the race was now back in front once more. Just a year and a half into his Formula 1 career, Piastri was now on course for his maiden grand prix victory in his 35th start.
Although it had not been the circumstances in which he would have dreamt of achieving such a feat, Piastri had beaten his team mate to the first corner and remained ahead through the first two stints. Now, rounding the final corner on the final lap, he was being rewarded not just for the risk he took in signing with McLaren two years prior, but for all the sacrifices and efforts he had made in pursuit of his Formula 1 ambitions.
“I said my first dream in my career was reaching F1. The second one is winning a race,” the winner said after the race.
“I’m very, very happy and proud and not just of myself, but everybody that’s helped me get to this position. It took a lot of big decisions at a young age to chase the F1 dream. It’s very difficult to become an F1 driver by staying in Australia, so it meant some big decisions early in life. I’m very, very proud that those decisions have paid off and we’ve managed to make it worth it.”
Although his decision had come late, Norris had saved his team from a crisis. He warmly congratulated his team mate on his victory after taking the flag, then demonstrated with his demeanour in parc ferme that he understood the bigger picture.
“I shouldn’t have won today,” Norris admitted. “I didn’t deserve to win because of my start and Oscar’s good start and that’s that.
“Of course that went through my mind, seven points that I’m going to lose. But I think the real fact is I shouldn’t have almost had them in the first place. So the team were right. And I stand by what they said.”
Norris’ decision was vital for the trust between the two team mates as they prepare to take on Red Bull and Verstappen in the races which lie ahead. He ‘paid it forward’ to Piastri in the expectation his team mate will do right by him if the roles are reversed in the future. Whether Piastri will take quite as long to respond remains to be seen.
Hamilton took third to secure an unprecedented 200th grand prix podium. Despite some uncertainty over whether he would be under threat of a penalty and potentially lose the position to Leclerc, a
A post-race investigation by the stewards resulted in no further action over the clash between Hamilton and Verstappen. The Mercedes driver therefore completed his double century of podiums, followed by Leclerc who picked up fourth while Verstappen rejoined the track.
Verstappen was bitter after finishing in fifth, 21 seconds off the winner. Sainz took sixth, while Sergio Perez won the battle for the best out-of-position starter by rising to seventh from 16th, one place ahead of George Russell who had started behind him.
Yuki Tsunoda made up for his heavy Q3 crash by taking ninth, while Lance Stroll collected the final point after seemingly refusing to honour his team’s instructions to allow Fernando Alonso back through after being let by to challenge Tsunoda.
While Formula 1 now had its 115th grand prix winner – McLaren’s second first-time winner of the season – none of Piastri’s predecessors had secured their first victories under such awkward circumstances. After several rounds of missing out on wins, the strained conclusion to the race gave McLaren a sense of losing despite winning.
But through all the agony of those last 20 laps and the relief at the end of it, it was easy to overlook how critical a result this was for McLaren. Red Bull entered the first weekend of the second half of the championship with a 78-point advantage over McLaren in the constructors’ championship. Leaving the Hungaroring, that gap had dropped to 51.
With 11 rounds still remaining and Red Bull’s hurriedly-introduced upgrade not proving the silver bullet they craved, McLaren now have all the momentum they could want to mount a challenge to the world champions over the rest of the season. Time will tell if Norris’s sacrifice will prove to be crucial or costly.
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2024 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Verstappen names Hungarian GP the most stressful moment of his title-winning year
- McLaren team orders “a new situation we’re inexperienced at handling” – Piastri
- Verstappen dismisses critics of “vocal” radio messages and late-night simracing
- Norris’ former McLaren team mates say he was right to give up win
- Mercedes surprised Hamilton’s car was “completely unscathed” in Verstappen clash
F1 race reviews
- Norris achieves feat which eluded Hamilton by taking McLaren to constructors’ title
- Verstappen masters race track and rule book with satisfying Qatar victory
- Russell strikes gold in Vegas as Verstappen’s title comes at a canter
- Verstappen counters critics with champion’s drive in soaking Sao Paulo
- Sainz seizes swansong Ferrari win as Perez endures home race horror show
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd July 2024, 8:24
I found it strange that they let Lando undercut Oscar and then saying they are not allowed to race each other after the second pitstop. Why did they do that why not just let Oscar pit followed up the next lap by Lando…
This wasn’t thought over by McLaren creating friction and unease in the team.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
22nd July 2024, 8:38
As I said somewhere else, initially I thought that McLaren had pitted Norris first to get him ahead of Piastri without an explicit team order, for drivers’ championship points. Which would have been very harsh on Piastri, but understandable (and presumably would have been discussed with both drivers beforehand anyway).
I still can’t fathom why they did it, if that wasn’t the plan – Hamilton was nowhere near undercut range and a safety car would have extended McLaren’s advantage, not reduced it.
Grapmg
22nd July 2024, 18:08
As stated by McLaren it was the risk of an undercut from Hamilton. Although the risk was very low it was still possible in case of a long pitstop. It was also mentioned in the radio call to Lando before the stop.
José Lopes da Silva
22nd July 2024, 11:06
McLaren let Norris undercut Piastri because they failed the strategy call for Piastri – which has been the norm this season. The 1-2 finish and all the radio buzz shenanigans is hiding this simple plain fact. Given that McLaren did not want Norris to finish ahead if he did not merited it, according to The Formula One Rule thay says “No Number One Driver at McLaren, Ever, Period, No Matter What the Other Teams Do Throughout The Decades”, the only explanation is that McLaren botched it again. There’s no rational for Piastri taking two laps to pit instead of one.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 11:52
They responded to calls they were incompetent on the strategic side by being utterly incompetent. There was zero danger of either driver being undercut, but as usual they’re looking at everyone else instead of running an optimal strategy. Had they pitted Oscar first a few laps later and then Lando, we could have seen if Lando could catch and pass Oscar instead of getting this cringe fest debacle.
The worst part were those transparent messages about needing to conserve tires, which just served to irritate Lando more. Simply say why you want him to slow down and stick to your guns or don’t say anything at all. If he doesn’t respond to his race engineer, then you put the boss on the radio.
Richard Vivian
22nd July 2024, 13:50
There’s obviously tension in the team on how to handle Piastri.
If you look at the season, during qualifying and/or during the race, Piastri is constantly being let down on strategy, timing, tactics.
You would almost think someone inside the team is sabotaging him. But if that is the case I think its most likely a team strategy to sabotage Piastri rather than a covert operation.
Why McLaren would be deliberately sabotaging Piastri is an interesting question. It probably all leads back to money/advertising/endorsements at the end of the day.
José Lopes da Silva
23rd July 2024, 8:32
Hanlon’s razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
McLaren has been sabotaging both drivers regarding strategy, lately, not just Piastri.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
22nd July 2024, 8:45
Delighted for Oscar after months of being the winner of “only” a sprint race, but it still feels like he hasn’t won a Grand Prix properly…
Better get used to them winning and doing each other favours. As you say, that car’s looked a winner for a few races now, only the McManagement and killer instinct’s been a bit off.
I just wish they’d find a way to win that acknowledges their supporters and global audience. Compare the mood with Silverstone, doesn’t matter who’s your favourite. Make it less obvious they were doing it all for the benefit of a few people within the team.
David (@nvherman)
22nd July 2024, 10:43
@bullfrog That’s because he still hasn’t won a Grand Prix properly. He was nowhere near Norris’ pace after the second pit stops, and if Norris had been free to race him, even from behind, would’ve probably been overtaken for the lead.
Ross
22nd July 2024, 11:50
That’s cool, if Piasti hasn’t really ‘won’ one then neither has Norris, he was gifted one by a safety car.
MichaelN
22nd July 2024, 14:10
Piastri was driving on the promise that McLaren’s strategy switch would be corrected, which they said in as many words when Norris made his stop. It’s not really possible to compare his pace with Norris, who seemed determined to build a gap.
David (@nvherman)
23rd July 2024, 0:23
Piastri should have been trying harder to keep up.
If he couldn’t, he doesn’t deserve to win.
Grand Prix last 305km, not 100-200.
Look at Canada 2011: race isn’t won until it’s won
José Lopes da Silva
23rd July 2024, 8:34
Piastri made the best start, came out authoritatively in P1 after Turn 1, and lead solidly until the team shot him in the foot. He fully deserves the victory.
David (@nvherman)
23rd July 2024, 15:03
And what about the mistake Piastri made in turn 11 which is why Norris was suddenly not 7 seconds behind him, but less than 1.5? Which is why he was well within undercut range in the first place. Plus Norris’ pitstop was about 0.6 seconds faster than Piastri’s, and even after that, Piastri made another trip off the track at turn 12.
He was notfaster over the whole Grand Prix, which are run over 305km, not 100-200
José Lopes da Silva
23rd July 2024, 22:44
There was no valid reason for Piastri to pit 2 laps later than Norris, other than place Norris ahead to fight for the championship – which McLaren refuses to do. Norris would not get there without it.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd July 2024, 8:54
what a farce. its like the guys at mclaren already know how the season is gonna end if they can afford to shunt lando like that. VERY TELLING.
f1 is a joke. but at least HAM got to tell one during the race today. max needs to seriously humble himself and focus on his day job. Like master yoda says, there is no try, and he knows better anyways, which makes it worse.
besides, if they let max come back in 2021, why not this year ?
albo94
22nd July 2024, 9:03
At McLaren, they probably know that the drivers’ championship is gone. They prefer to win the constructors’ while preparing for 2025.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 11:54
Agreed. I find it amusing people think the driver’s championship is still realistic. What would be the tally if Lando won every remaining race and Max averaged a 4th place finish in the remaining races? Enough to overall Max?
Mayrton
22nd July 2024, 13:03
Yes, in that scenario Lando would take the the WDC.
MichaelN
22nd July 2024, 14:12
Norris only needs 8 points per race more to take the title. It’s a serious gap, but it’s also a long season.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
22nd July 2024, 12:25
That’s my take on it too. McLaren has a chance of getting drivers to finish 2nd and 3rd (Piastri overtaking the Ferraris in the standings), but it is extremely unlikely that either McLaren driver will beat Verstappen for the drivers title.
If both McLarens can consistently keep Perez and the Ferraris behind, they may just about scrape together enough points to catch up with Red Bull for the constructors title.
From that perspective, it makes sense to give this win to Piastri (by winning, he got closer to the Ferraris in the standings and he’s now an extra 10 points ahead of Hamilton in 6th).
It made no difference for Norris, he was already in 2nd and remained there.
Richard
22nd July 2024, 14:25
If they hadn’t allowed Piastri to win the race it would have caused serious problems for the team.
Piastri has been thwarted by team tactics favoring Norris all season. This would have been the final straw.
It’s always difficult to manage when it becomes apparent that the no2 driver is better than the no1 driver. Mclaren are going through that transition.
I don’t expect Norris will get any more favors from the team after this. And I expect Piastri will transition to the no1 driver position in the second half of this season.
T. Wolff
22nd July 2024, 9:09
What a fake win. Its his first “win” and that should be rememerable. So sorry for him that this had to be staged, Andrea Stella has taken Ferrari jokes to McL. And by letting Oscar win they set Lando back for 7 points! Worst strategy ever..
HAL
23rd July 2024, 10:40
You are right, if they had let Norris win, this would have been a fake win, completely staged.
JackFlash67
22nd July 2024, 9:09
McLaren used “Piastri’s pitstop priority, based on track position” to sure up Lando against an improbable Hamilton attack (HAM already started to drop off pace when McLaren pulled to pitstop trigger, so I don’t know why McLaren felt they had to follow thru on the pit-order swap). That clearly was a very distinct and track-position limiting disadvantage to Piastri, but prefaced on virtually guaranteeing a McLaren 1-2 for WCC points.
The childish petulance displayed in the Team Radio conversations by Lando in not patently recognising the Team (and by default Piastri) did him and McLaren an absolute favour for his security of Podium 2nd, and pushing the issue to late in the GP, was team disrespectful. That display revealed a lot about character. Very little of it flattering.
Jordan (@hunkulese)
22nd July 2024, 9:11
This narrative people are trying to push about Norris sacrificing anything is nonsensical. He benefited from the preferential pit strategy because they knew he’d give Piastri the position back. Pitting Norris before Piastri guaranteed the 1, w finish. Nothing Norris did on track put him in the lead of the race.
Piastri has sacrificed more in previous races where he had more of an argument not to this year than Norris did yesterday.
Jungle
22nd July 2024, 10:37
Nice comment Jordan
CarWars (@maxv)
22nd July 2024, 11:02
Hope Norris is not 7 points short at the end. Its a driver championship weird decision, not letting Lando win.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 11:57
Sacrificing Oscar ever willingly helping Lando again to give a 3% change of winning the WDC instead of a 2% chance would be a lot weirder of a decision. They shouldn’t have put themselves in the position either way. Covering Hamilton was like had RBR pitted Max to cover Yuki in 9th. It made no sense.
Grapmg
22nd July 2024, 18:53
Maybe you should check the gaps again. Hamilton was lapping faster than the McLarens after his stop. If Norris would have waited for the pitstop after Piastri and had a slow stop himself there.would have been a risk of undercut. The decision made sense was communicated to Norris and Piastri but was poorly executed.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 23:48
Every single person, including ex-Sauber strategist / race engineer, agreed that Hamilton was a remote undercut threat at best. Even if he had undercut under one of the McLarens, Hamilton’s tires were already done and they could have easily passed him. Since, they would have been fighting for a podium instead of a win, it was unlikely that Ham would have tried to put up a losing fight or make contact and let Max easily catch up. There’s a reason everyone and their mother is saying McLaren blew the strategy.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
22nd July 2024, 9:26
Norris was gifted the lead and was asked to give it back. That’s all.
How many times was Bottas genuinely winning when he was told to let Lewis through.
Didn’t hear much complaining about that from certain fans!
ChrisJ (@chriju0411)
22nd July 2024, 9:33
He was asked once in their 5-year partnership.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 11:57
lol. Once.
Edvaldo
22nd July 2024, 14:22
He was winning, as it was said, once, Russia 2018.
He gave up the fight to win as requested by the team in Germany 2018.
Other than that he let Hamilton through numerous times, but mostly because he wasn’t making progress and Hamilton was. These happened a lot.
Mayrton
22nd July 2024, 13:07
Hence ‘Valtteri, it’s James’ has become famous in the racing world. It was based on that single event
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
22nd July 2024, 10:57
There’s something to be said about Norris inability to secure wins when they are presented to him. The fact that he won only once this year is baffling. I mean, he lost this one because he let Oscar go, obviously, but he didn’t help himself by being behind in the first place.
I have no sympathy for him for what happened later, either, because if he wanted to prove a point, why not let Oscar by inmediately and chase him hard for the win? the way he did it was always going to end tasting sour, whatever he decided. He benefited from the pit stop, no question about it. McLaren didn’t play it well, but they had to protect Norris if they wanted the 1-2. Because of that he was gifted the opportunity. He’d have completely broken the relationship in the same way Webber-Vettel happened. Explosive, no turning back…
I’m glad he corrected it in the end but boy did he left some scars!
Stephen Taylor
22nd July 2024, 11:34
Lando was under no threat from the undercut at the second stop . They didn’t need to pit him first . I am pretty sure McLaren would have told Norris to hold station regardless of what lap he let Piastri pass him.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 11:59
That was my thought. He should have put on his thinking cap. But it was McLaren’s fault above all for pulling yet another disaster out of a day that should have been all champagne and smiles. Maybe the most unhappy 1-2 in F1 history. Even as a fan I was uncomfortable watching and listening to events unfold.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
22nd July 2024, 12:39
There’s some competition for that! Wonder what would be the unhappiest 1-2, and which would be no.2 but grumpy about it. If there isn’t already, there should be a RaceFans article about them.
Jordan and Sauber’s breakthrough wins were both 1-2s, featuring a second driver who thought he was faster.
Edvaldo
22nd July 2024, 14:26
San Marino 1982 probably takes the cake.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 23:50
Didn’t think of ‘82. Multi-21 might have been ever more bitter. However, Jordan’s podium was only bitter for Ralf. No one else cared beside maybe Michael.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
22nd July 2024, 23:11
San Marino ’82 is a good shout from Edvaldo above – Austria 2002, Indianapolis 2005 and Germany 2010 must also be up there, and those are just the ones involving Ferrari.
José Lopes da Silva
22nd July 2024, 14:33
I appreciate your analysis but let me spare a though for the unhappiness of the thing. The most unhappy 1-2 ever has to Austria 2002. There was no ambiguity or excuses at that moment, and the fact that Schumacher seemed firmly geared to the title only made it worse.
Yesterday, there was ambiguity and only because Norris has a theoretical chance to fight for the championship. Otherwise, it was just a team blunder, needing a fix. The radio buzz was entertaining and the return of one of the defining features of the sport – the fact that the team mate is also the main rival, unlike most (every?) other sports. And a sub-feature of the sport – that McLaren never issues team orders for a championship fight, although it issues, and frequently, to ensure a result. It was no different from Australia 1998. This is how the sport goes. Norris played wisely, given that he lost it at the start…
Jans Duiven
22nd July 2024, 11:07
Apperently McLaren have learned nothing from the 2021 season, were up until the last race both title contenders (Hamilton & Verstappen) were equal on points???????
We are halfway into the 2024 season and McLaren stupidly, have taken 7 valuable points away from Lando Norris, even before the race has started.
Talking about tactical mistakes: This one is a real blunder!
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 12:31
Your math skills are clearly superior. Mine aren’t. Therefore, would you care to wager on whether Lando is within 25 points after the last race? I’ll wager he’s not.
José Lopes da Silva
22nd July 2024, 14:35
McLaren never defines a number one driver for the title. That’s in the team constitution as defined by Bruce McLaren. You don’t change that, never.
Tristan
22nd July 2024, 12:35
I only just finished the replay and damn, even as an Australian that just makes me sad. I was more beaming with pride before I watched the race than after it. The post-race radio said it all really.
Is this what F1 is? What a dreary first win. Bet even Piastri will look back and wish it didn’t come this way.
José Lopes da Silva
22nd July 2024, 14:37
Always has been. It’s not chess, tennis of MMA, it’s not an individual sport. It’s a team sport. Teams do mistakes all the time.
Piastri could have stayed at Alpine. And that is also what F1 is.
Chris
22nd July 2024, 18:45
I agree. Piastri’s first GP win soured. He won’t get that moment ever again.
Lando made it look like he gifted it to Piastri. Piastri’s celebrations were muted. So sad.
Not all Landos fault – don’t know why they didn’t even pit Piastri on the next lap. But playing his childish “catch me if you can” when the sensible driver is driving for a safe 1-2, and then making out it proved something.
Kenny
23rd July 2024, 3:27
Yes, agreed. I wasn’t sure what to think (as an Aussie) after that win and staying up to the end even for the later discussions. Even Oscar, who at the best of times is subdued, seemed a bit down. But since then I have been reading and watching about what occurred and I feel slightly better about it, why and McLaren’s rules and orders. Watch the youtube video titled The real problem behind McLaren’s F1 team orders by THE RACE for I think a good summary of what happened and why.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
22nd July 2024, 12:36
You have to wonder, would they have done the same if Norris wouldn’t be a Grand Prix winner already? This could easily have been a chance of deciding which of your two drivers becomes a race winner, and I would think you have to pick the driver with more potential, both regarding their careers and the current season, and I am not sure Piastri has proven that it’s him for either of those. Sure, Norris got into the lead because of a strategic move, and if he wasn’t at the pace of Piastri I would understand the need to swap back, but with the added potential of a chance at the WDC for Norris, I just don’t get why McLaren was so adamant about giving Piastri the win.
Richard
22nd July 2024, 14:09
At this point I think it’s becoming clear that Piastri is equal to Norris as a driver, but Piastri has more career potential. Piastri is cooler under pressure and has better race smarts.
Mclaren are realizing that they need to protect Piastri because he has more potential going forward. If they continue to
handicap his races it won’t work for them in the long run.
Nick T.
22nd July 2024, 23:54
I didn’t look at it that way, but I disagree there’s already thinking in the organization Piastri has the better long term potential. If he is able to figure out his pace issues (preserving and on new rubber after stints), I think he would be better because he’s a lot more unflappable. However, I think this was just for team unity and knowing if Lando took it, they’d be in a situation where the drivers wouldn’t help each other again.
Edvaldo
22nd July 2024, 13:52
The guys have an easy 1-2 in one of the strongest non-Red Bull performances of this era of cars and still managed to embarass themselves for nothing.
After some 10 laps i was completely ok with Lando winning it because it’s not his job to look for Piastri’s strategy, they did what they told him, period. If they messed up with Piastri, that’s on them. The scare on Red Bull’s side would be stronger with Norris winning too, in a particular bad weekend for them as this was.
And then he let Piastri pass after 18 laps. He even build himself a gap during this period just to coast later.
The guys are literally making drama out of nothing for no reason at all.
Richard
22nd July 2024, 19:47
When the Pit Wall makes a call for strategy it shouldn’t be up to the drivers to fix the call later on. IMO the drivers should always drive their best race no matter what the wall does. In this case the wall got worried about Hamilton rightfully or not and pitted Norris first when they should have pitted Piastri first as he had earned that right. But once the call was made pleading with Norris to correct their mistake and give the win to Piastri was just unfair to Norris just like pitting Norris first was unfair to Piastri. Norris should have drove to win and Piastri should have blown up at the team principle for giving his win away.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
22nd July 2024, 21:45
Giving the position back to Piastri was the politically wise ‘team’ decision for Norris, but it’s debatable whether it was good for his career as a top driver. Do F1 teams want a ruthless winner or a docile team player as their Number One driver?