Victory through team radio: Stroll hinders Verstappen's pursuer
He has to let his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri win the Formula-1 race in Hungary. The team instruction to Lando Norris via team radio is clear, but the second in the World Championship standings hesitates to perform the overtaking maneuver for a long time. The team orders don't sit well with him.
Later, Norris admitted it. Of course, he had thought about not following the McLaren team order and taking the win in Hungary for himself. It was "hard" for him to let Piastri pass, Norris conceded: But he knew, he had to "do the right thing".
And so Norris indeed let Piastri win, after a lengthy discussion over the radio, the Briton slowed down enough for his teammate to overtake him in lap 68 out of 70. "I don't want to be the one who appears unfair," Norris said: "Oscar has helped me in many races. He drove a better race than I did, he had a better start, he deserved it and it's the right thing to do." He emphasized: "I lost the win at the start."
A possible win in Budapest would have brought Norris closer in the Championship standings to title defender Max Verstappen, who finished fifth in his Red Bull. Norris now trails by 76 points and heads into the next race this coming Sunday at Spa - it's the last one before the summer break.
Negotiation on team radio lasts 20 laps
Piastri had taken the lead at the start and controlled the race for a long time, until McLaren, out of concern for Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, gave Norris an advantage through a so-called "undercut" strategy at his last pit stop. This way, Norris received the lead almost on a silver platter due to better tires. Over 20 laps, his race engineer negotiated with him before Norris finally followed the team instruction and restored the correct order. Piastri thus secured his first win in Formula 1.
"When you're leading a race as a driver, it's never easy to change positions," McLaren team boss Andrea Stella told Sky: "No driver thinks about it. As a team, we have to help and tell him. We race as McLaren and that was the right decision."
"When he's fighting for the Championship, he needs to have the whole team, including Oscar, behind him," Stella added: "Sometimes you need a little more wisdom, even if the helmet visor is down."
After the negotiation on team radio that lasted 20 laps, Norris reluctantly decided to let Piastri overtake him, acknowledging Piastri's better performance during the race. This decision allowed Piastri to secure his first win in Formula 1, while Norris' chances of challenging Max Verstappen for the Championship title diminished. Despite the setback, Norris maintained a positive attitude, recognizing that he had benefited from Piastri's help in previous races and that Piastri deserved the win due to his superior performance.
