Oscar Piastri insists his relationship with McLaren team mate Lando Norris is strong despite the tense end to last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
McLaren secured a one-two victory with Piastri securing his maiden grand prix victory last weekend at the Hungaroring ahead of Norris.Piastri lost the lead to his team mate at the final round of pit stops as Norris was allowed to pit before him. After being asked to allow his team mate back into the lead for 20 laps, Norris finally obeyed with three laps remaining.
Despite the tense end to the race, with Norris only following his team’s orders in the closing laps, Piastri insisted that the atmosphere inside the team between himself, Norris and team principal Andrea Stella as “incredible”.
“Reflecting back on a one-two and just a dominant weekend – which is the first time we’ve been able to say that as McLaren for a very long time – the feeling is very strong,” Piastri told the official F1 channel.
“I’ve spoken with Lando and Andrea – played Monopoly with Lando on the way back – so we’re all good. Of course it’s a difficult situation to be in from a lot of sides. I think the team wanted to really make sure we locked down a one-two and I think at the time it was a very sensible call.
“Of course it swapped the order around and I completely get why Lando wanted to ask so many questions about swapping back. He’s leading a race and we all want a win. So I get it from both sides. Just a new situation that we were maybe a bit inexperienced at handling. We’ve definitely spoken about it and we’re all good.”
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Norris admitted that he could have handled the team’s orders in a different manner, but said he was still happier about securing a one-two for his team than he was not to win himself.
“The whole team were very happy. Yeah, could have done things probably a little bit differently, yes, but that’s from my side and the team’s side to discuss and that’s what we’ve done. So coming into this weekend to try and repeat it in terms of result.”
Piastri’s victory, albeit in unusual circumstances, made him the eighth-youngest race winner in grand prix history. Asked if his victory had “fully sunk in yet”, Piastri said he’s enjoyed his win more as the week has progressed.
“It’s certainly sunk in more than it had immediately post-race,” he said. “But I don’t think it changes the world for me.
“It’s nice to have that achievement, but my way of working and trying to improve myself is going to be exactly the same. So nice to have that achievement, nice to have the first one. And I think for the whole team, an incredible weekend scoring the most amount of points that we could.
“But it doesn’t change much apart from that. Just trying to repeat that every weekend and keep growing, I know that I’ve won a race, but it doesn’t mean it was a perfect race. So until I have perfect races then I’m never going to be fully satisfied.”
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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
Osnola
25th July 2024, 20:35
Zak probably blames horner for their strategy fails..
Sham (@sham)
25th July 2024, 21:58
I don’t think I’ve ever known Zak be anything but honest about his own teams failings.
Outside of that, he certainly isn’t above playing the political game – but when it comes to his house, if it isn’t in order then he makes no excuses.
Osnola
26th July 2024, 10:39
They have the fastest car, two excellent drivers and still lost at least three races they should have won. Zak was invisible and only seem to have interest in horner e.a
Owen Smart (@smartez)
25th July 2024, 21:01
And the understatement of the year award goes to…
Nick T.
26th July 2024, 5:59
Piastri is being a great team player in his comments. Never says anything that raises tensions. If this comment came from the team and not the driver, I’d call it a pathetic excuse, especially considering guys like Stella have massive amounts of experience with team orders. But this is Piastri diffusing tensions.
Riker (@corsair)
26th July 2024, 6:20
One of the main reasons Lando did decide to concede the win in the end was knowing how much of a team player Oscar is and how vital he is for his chances to ever get a WDC.
That being said – McLaren really shouldn’t have put Lando in that position in the first place. Really was McLaren strategy fault in the first place so as long as that’s addressed then, hopefully, this occurrence of this type of situation is minimised (won’t say never because it can still happen – you just want to reduce the risk of it happening).
Mayrton
26th July 2024, 8:01
I hope they learn fast. I did not appreciate their actions last time around. They made a joke out of racing.
M2X
26th July 2024, 9:06
Apparently they are also very inexperienced at pitstopstrategies.
It’s another race where the strategists made a mess of the race.
And if at the end of the line those 7 points are essential for winning a championship, they will be kicking themselves..
An Sionnach
26th July 2024, 9:34
Lando would have had a good chance of passing Piastri if he’d just let him by straight away. Plenty of laps.
Leo B
26th July 2024, 9:39
I fear no amount of diplomacy from Piastri will change Norris’s tendency toward histrionics. The cameras now line up around him post race to catch his tears in big close up, chin resting on chest. I coulda, I shoulda, I woulda.
Maybe he’ll grow out of this soon. I hope so as he is a terrific driver, as is Piastri.
An Sionnach
26th July 2024, 11:20
Lando is so critical of himself. I get the feeling that he knows that Max is going to be hard to beat as a driver. He doesn’t need to, though. What he can learn from Max that can win him the championship this year is that he should choose to win and be decisive. My guess is that Max would not have let Piastri past. Lando doesn’t need to do that. He can still be Lando while also taking inspiration from Max. Let him by, give it a few laps and then pass him. That way he’s still Lando honourable, while being Max winning. I’m sure even someone like Max can have trouble with confidence. It doesn’t help if you try to appease the screaming commentators from all over the place (including me). Max would not apologise for winning. He wouldn’t apologise full stop for something he believes he should do.