Lando Norris has to let his McLaren team-mate past in the closing stages of the Hungarian GP – The victory for Piastri is “fair” but “painful” for his chances of winning the World Championship
With a victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris could have taken an important step in the battle for the world championship – instead, the Briton had to let his team-mate Oscar Piastri pass him in the closing stages of the race, whom he was only able to overtake thanks to an earlier pit stop. The victory for Piastri was “fair”, but “painful” for his chances in the World Championship, the Briton admits
“I don’t want to come across as someone who isn’t fair,” explains Norris, who took his time over the maneuver and had a heated discussion with the team. “Oscar has done a lot for me in the past and helped me in many races. He drove a better race than me, he had a good start, he had a better start and I had a bad start. He deserved it and it was the right decision.”
The fact that the Briton, who started from pole position, finished behind his McLaren team-mate at all is his own fault: Because the 24-year-old once again failed to get off to a good start, allowing Piastri to pass him on the first corner.
In order to be able to defend against Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen later on, McLaren decided to bring Norris in for his second pit stop a lap earlier than Piastri – who fell behind his team-mate as a result of the involuntary undercut maneuver.
Norris on Piastri’s maneuver: “That hurts “
“I was obviously put in that position, so they let me pit first and gave me the chance to lead the race and get a comfortable lead. I did what I did, but they also gave me the opportunity, you know. So I think it was fair to give the position back. “
If McLaren had taken Piastri first, as is usually the case due to the better position on the track, Norris would probably not have got past the Australian so easily. “I know that I shouldn’t have had first place, and that’s probably the crux of the matter,” admits the Miami winner.
But there is still a bit of disappointment at the end. “I think it would be difficult for anyone. When you lead the race and then have to concede, it hurts. Especially because every point helps in the championship,” says Norris, who is already 76 championship points behind Verstappen.
“I know that I’m a hell of a long way behind Max in the championship, I’m aware of that. Nobody needs to tell me that,” says the McLaren driver, who recalls the seven points he “threw away or gave away today”. “Not because I changed position, but because I got off to a bad start again,” says Norris, annoyed at his own mistake.
“We are very proud of the journey “
The Brit missed out on a possible victory in Austria and Silverstone. But the bottom line is that McLaren has become a winning team. “I don’t want to forget that we have achieved a double victory as a team,” said the 24-year-old happily.
“It’s an incredible achievement from everyone, the first time since Monza [2021] and I think it’s to our credit because we were fast all weekend, yesterday we were first in qualifying, today we were first again. It’s a great feeling and the whole team is very happy.”
“We’re very proud of the journey we’re on and pleased with the progress we’re making,” admits Norris, even though he was once again unable to convert his pole position into a race win: “My start was fine, my reaction, my start was good, and when I shifted into second gear I just had a massive slump. I don’t know, but I will have a look at it. “