After McLaren’s most productive weekend in Formula 1 was overshadowed by a controversy over team orders, Sky Sports F1 is answering key questions that have arisen from the incident.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured McLaren’s first front-row lock since 2012 in qualifying, before a reversal of that result sealed the Woking team’s first one-two since 2021, even after a generous dose of drama.
Piastri got off to the best start and exited the first corner ahead of his team-mate, theoretically taking priority for the rest of the afternoon in Budapest.
However, McLaren chose to give Norris the credit for avoiding the first at the time and the final round of stops, allowing the Briton to start the final period in the lead.
McLaren’s pit wall, led by team principal Andrea Stella, knew Norris was going to take the lead, but was confident that his main driving force – according to the championship standings – would allow Piastri to come back to achieve the Australian’s first Grand Prix victory.
What happened on the track at that moment, as Norris gradually widened the gap, was not incredibly exciting, however, the radio messages exchanged between the team and the driving force were nothing short of remarkable.
Norris was continually asked to let Piastri pass and first of all he ignored and protested the order, prompting his race engineer, Will Joseph, to post an incredible series of messages that made him feel guilty, urging the 24-year-old to do more wonderful things about the team.
The tension continued to rise until Norris, having built a five-second lead, finally relented with three laps to go when he slowed down on the main road to allow Piastri to take the lead.
Piastri’s first full win was assured, but the Australian looked low-key for a driver who had just fulfilled his “childhood dream”, while instead of enjoying jubilant celebrations and what would have been deserved praise, McLaren faced post-race questioning about his decisions and actions.
First of all, it should be clear that Stella deserves a lot of credit for the work she has done since taking over at McLaren ahead of the 2023 season.
A notable change saw them move from the back of the grid at the start of last year to identify themselves as the team to beat in this second part of this campaign.
However, with good luck comes increased scrutiny, which Stella and her team have begun to face in recent months after Norris showed his at the Miami Grand Prix in May with his maiden F1 victory.
The mistakes made since then have resulted in a higher chance of victory, especially for Norris, raising questions about whether the driving force and the team are in a position to win the championship.
Part of Stella’s post-race explanation suggests that it doesn’t. He said it was vital to avoid putting pressure on McLaren’s pit crew.
“I just didn’t need to have a stage at the pit stop, where there’s a challenge that puts us in front of a Mercedes or a Ferrari,” he said.
That’s precisely an endorsement from McLaren’s pit crew, who will no doubt face plenty of high-pressure conditions in the long run if the team remains in the race-winning race.
This followed an incident at the last race at Silverstone, where McLaren’s decision to overtake its cars in the rain destroyed Piastri’s chances of victory.
Stella and McLaren’s technique contrasts starkly with that of their rivals Red Bull, who of late have opted to remove Max Verstappen from the lead late in the race so he can simply put on new tires and complete the fastest lap. Be the fastest in the race and win a place. additional point.
There has been little evidence in recent seasons to suggest that McLaren’s pit crew is not elite, so the pit wall asks them to ensure that they are functioning in the same way as they do with the drivers.
The headline in Norris’s post-race interviews says he will “always” let his teammate through, but there’s a brief, telling note at the end of his explanation.
He said, “I know I was going to give it back, unless they replaced their brain on what they were saying and they didn’t, so it’s all good. “
While it’s fair to take Norris’ word that he will never openly disobey an order from the team to hand the task back to Piastri, he tried with all his might to convince the team to replace that order.
Norris and Stella said that after the race there was no doubt that the replacement had occurred, but the nature of the messages to Norris told a completely different story.
Joseph, who seemed more pressured and excited with every message he sent, almost begged Norris to return to the post as it happened.
Surely, if the team had been as confident in itself as it claims to be, it wouldn’t have been necessary to have such an audience, full of personal messages, for the world to witness.
After letting Piastri through, Norris said on the radio that the team didn’t want to “say anything,” hinting that he didn’t like the tone of the past communication he had received.
In the end, only Norris and the rest of the McLaren team know exactly what is going through their brains at that moment. He probably also played on his brain the fact that he would have denied his teammate a first Grand Prix victory.
That conclusion came on a race weekend in which Norris began answering questions about whether he was “too nice” to be world champion.
The debate followed his June clash with Verstappen in Austria, for which he first criticised the Dutchman but then subsidised him the following weekend.
If Norris was looking to put an end to the verbal exchange between smart kids, this is the ultimate opportunity to do it once and for all.
“I don’t care what anybody else says about that,” Norris said Thursday. “I’m a great guy and I try to be cool and I try to be respectful in any and all ways I can. But that has surely no relevance to what’s happening on the track.
“When I put on my helmet, I don’t care what people say wrong. I’ll do whatever it takes to win and that’s pretty undeniable. “
Well, aside from ignoring an order from his team, apparently.
From Huguy’s point of view, Norris’ technique is incredibly refreshing and is a component of what makes him a wonderful ambassador for the sport. He’s a likeable young man whose authenticity is helping to broaden F1’s audience, while his activism around intellectual fitness is too. glorious to see.
But inevitably comparisons will be made to some of the sport’s wonderful champions, beyond and present, who have shown a ruthless edge.
Verstappen didn’t even let Sergio Perez pass for sixth at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix for his teammate to chase second in the drivers’ standings, while Sebastian Vettel defied team orders by beating teammate Mark Webber for victory at the 2013 Malaysia Grand Prix. .
There’s surely no need for Norris to replace who he is outside of the car, but when the helmet continues, there’s an argument that a more ruthless series could bring him benefits in the future.
After the race, Norris insisted that the result was when Piastri overtook him at the first corner, rather than on any of the occasions that followed later in the 70-lap race.
Piastri dominated in the first phase of the race, opening a gap large enough for McLaren to first oppose Norris and allow him to maintain the lead, despite the significant time gained by braking first.
He added that merit in the second stint, when a mistake on lap 33 suddenly reduced the gap between the McLarens from more than five moments to less than two.
Without this mistake, McLaren Max would likely have simply implemented the protection option of putting Norris first in the pits, and could have kept Piastri in the lead as well.
It is unclear whether Norris was aware of the mistake his teammate made, but a more ruthless individual could have used the incident as justification for not giving the job back.
Piastri also sank a wheel into the gravel as he tried to stick to Norris after exiting the pits, another mistake that gave the impression of having been forgotten despite Norris’ insistence after the race that his teammate deserved the win.
The Australian’s performance provided evidence of the huge progress he has made in terms of tyre-management over his first season and a half in F1, but he ultimately made two mistakes, and then could not keep up with Norris on the final stint.
“I think in the end I wasn’t as fast as I needed to be in the last stint,” Piastri said. “So I think that’s all I need to do.
“I’m very, very pleased with the result, of course, but as far as the end of the week is concerned, the question is whether I’m completely satisfied with my performance today. No, I’m not. And there are still things I need to do. . Improve. “
Based on what was discussed in McLaren’s pre-race meetings on Sunday morning and what was desperately talked about on the radio when Norris encouraged giving up the spot, Stella revealed a guiding principle.
“The interest of the team comes first. If you make a mistake, you will be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team,” he said.
A strong statement, which makes it clear what the repercussions would have been if Norris had kept the victory to himself.
In theory, most F1 teams would say they work on a principle, but that strategy is easier to follow when there is a transparent hierarchy between drivers.
Do the drivers in the game need to place themselves in a scenario where winning the Drivers’ Championship is not the team’s priority?
Red Bull have built around Verstappen’s ability in recent years, while they have done the same in the future with Vettel, whose teammate Webber, Piastri’s coach. We’ll talk about that in a moment.
Mercedes endured the discomfort of Lewis Hamilton’s battles with Nico Rosberg against the more pleasant – and beatable – Valtteri Bottas as the Briton’s teammate.
Praising Webber’s influence after his win, Piastri said: “His attitude in his career is my foresight. And he can keep me away from some pitfalls, some holes that I would have possibly had throughout his career. “
Obviously, Piastri is not aiming to be anyone’s number two, while Norris has little hope of chasing Verstappen this season and challenging for a first crown next year.
If McLaren wants to remain at the front of the grid, managing a duo of very talented drivers who have name aspirations will be incredibly tricky for Stella.
The action continues this weekend with the final race before F1’s summer break, the Belgium Grand Prix. You can watch each and every one of the Spa-Francorchamps queries live on Sky Sports F1. Stream any and all F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month subscription – no contracts, cancel anytime