Belgium’s SPA Lando Norris said he was “dumb” to have let up the lead sooner and that he is “not too proud” that colleague Oscar Piastri’s first victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix was overshadowed by radio friction regarding McLaren’s usage of team directives.
With three circuits to go, Norris overtook Piastri to win his maiden Formula One race in Hungary. McLaren chose to pit Norris ahead of Piastri because of the danger posed by the cars in back.
During the last part of the race, Norris argued with his engineer, Will Joseph, over the radio and refused to follow the order to move aside. After the race, he insisted that he was always sure to heed the team’s instructions.
In retrospect, Norris acknowledged on Thursday at Spa that “could have been handled slightly differently from both a team side and a personal side.”
While Norris acknowledged feeling awful that his actions had taken focus away from Piastri’s victory, he was unconcerned by the stories and debate about how McLaren’s team directives transpired.
“The things that I could have done, the fact that I kind of clouded over Oscar’s first race win in Formula One, is something I’ve not felt too proud about,” Norris said. “The fact we had a 1-2, and that was barely a headline after the race, that’s the kind of thing I felt worse about. We discussed it, we’ve spoken about it. Both sides could have done things a bit better and a little bit differently.
“It’s almost… not good that we had it, but a good moment that we’ve had it, we’ve learned from it, and hopefully it’s done better next time.”
Piastri stated that he believed McLaren still needed to talk about some aspects of the race. However, he thought the group made “very sensible decisions, and done in complete trust of Lando and myself in mind,”and now that he knew how to manage the matter, it would be to his advantage.
“We discuss a lot of things as a team, but you can’t plan for every single scenario,” he added. “This one admittedly had some nuances to it that meant we were sort of in an unprecedented position before the race. I’m not surprised at all that (Norris) wanted to keep the lead of the race, and I think it’s only natural.”
Norris said he told Piastri he “felt bad about what happened and the way his first win went” but noted that they still had “a lot of faith and trust in each other.” Piastri added they had “shared McDonald’s and played Monopoly” since the race and remained on good terms.
When asked what he should have done instead, Norris acknowledged that he should have“just let him past straight away” and that it was “such a stupid thing that I didn’t” as he could have then battled Piastri for the win.
“We’re free to race,” Norris said. “I could have just let him past and still tried to overtake and to race him. Sounds so simple now, but it’s not something that went through my head at the time.”
Norris not looking for title backing
During his final stint in Hungary, Norris spoke with McLaren over the radio about his chances of winning the title against Max Verstappen, who had a difficult race for Red Bull and only managed to finish in fifth place.
With 11 races remaining, the difference between Norris and Verstappen is now 76 points rather than 69 after the racer gave up the victory and lost seven more points over second place.
After the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella stated that he did not currently envision a scenario in which the team would need to support a single driver and that he anticipated the drivers will bring up the topic themselves.
Despite the fact that McLaren is the clear favorite to win this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Norris did not believe it was the appropriate moment to take such factors into account. Due to an unconfirmed engine penalty, Verstappen is anticipated to start down the field.
“We are only halfway through, and we have a hell of a long way to go,” Norris said. “Maybe further down the line, but that time is to be decided.”
Although Piastri is now 40 points behind Norris in the standings, he believes he is “not out of it” and that he would be a team player if asked to back his colleague in the championship race, even if it might only take a few races for things to go his way.
“If Lando is in a position to win the championship and they ask me to help, then I will,” Piastri said. “But I think halfway through the season with so many points still on offer, for myself as well, I think it’s still very early.”
(Lead photo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri: ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)
