How Oscar Piastri Won First F1 Race Amid McLaren’s Team Orders Fiasco

Controversy filled the airwaves at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday as Oscar Piastri celebrated his maiden win in Formula 1, while Max Verstappen and Lando Norris exchanged angry words with their race engineers.

Having secured their first front row lockout in 12 years, the two McLaren finished first and second for the first time since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

But it was Piastri, rather than pole-sitter Norris who took the chequered flag at a sun-drenched Hungaroring after his teammate was ordered to relinquish his position.

Second on the grid, Piastri took the lead at the first corner and led most of the race with Norris behind him until the final round of pit stops, when McLaren decided to pit the Briton on Lap 45 to protect him from third-placed Lewis Hamilton.

Piastri remained out for two more laps and found himself behind his teammate as he rejoined the track.

For the next 17 laps, Norris repeatedly resisted instructions to hand back the position, going as far as completely ignoring his race engineer Will Joseph at times.

“Radio check,” Joseph said over the team radio at one point to ensure Norris was getting the messages.

“Loud and clear,” came the reply from the 24-year-old, only for him to refuse to follow the orders as he told his engineer to “tell Piastri to catch up”.

With just 12 laps of the 70 left, Joseph again came on the radio almost pleading with Norris.

“I know you will do the right thing. Just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have,” he said referring the pre-race meeting, where such scenarios are discussed.

With five laps to go, Joseph was on the radio again to remind Norris that Formula 1, after all, is a team sport.

“The way to win a championship is not by yourself, it’s with the team, you are going to need Oscar and you are going to need the team,” he said.

Norris admits he did not deserve to win

Two laps later, Norris eventually let Piastri through. The Briton was somewhat more magnanimous after the race, admitting he had not deserved to win after losing his position at the start.

“I didn’t deserve to win the race,” Norris said. “Simple as that. The fact I was in that position was incorrect.

“If Oscar’s led the whole race, it’s not fair, and I don’t think that’s how it should work, that he should just let me pass for me to win because I’m fighting for a championship.

“I didn’t give up the race win. I lost it off the line.”

While Piastri deserved to win the race, it was a curious decision by McLaren to order Norris to relinquish his position. After all, the latter remains Verstappen’s closest challenger and cut the gap from the three-time world champion to 76 points by finishing second in Hungary.

And Norris admitted he was reluctant to let Piastri through because of the implications it would have for his title challenge.

“It’s always going to go through your mind,” he said. “You have to be selfish in this sport at times. That’s priority number one – to think of yourself.

“I know a lot of people are going to say the gap between me and Max is pretty big but if Red Bull and Max make the mistakes they did today and we continue to improve and have weekends like this, we can turn it around.”

Verstappen and Red Bull feel the heat

Red Bull and Verstappen did indeed make plenty of mistakes, prompting a series of angry outbursts from the Dutchman.

Verstappen started third and ran wide at the first corner, before rejoining the track ahead of Norris and being asked to hand his position back to avoid a potential penalty.

With both McLarens faster than his Red Bull, Verstappen grew increasingly frustrated, a situation which was further exacerbated by what he deemed to be strategy errors as he twice fell behind Hamilton after pitting.

“Don’t give me that s***,” he fired back at his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who had warned him against pushing too soon on fresh tyres.

“You guys gave me this s*** strategy, OK? I’m trying to rescue what’s left. ****”.

Verstappen’s anger eventually spilled over as he collided with Hamilton in the closing stages of the race, while trying to regain third place.

The Dutchman locked up into turn one and clipped the Mercedes’ left wheel, sending his Red Bull into the run-off area.

Verstappen recovered to finish fifth behind Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, but fired back at the suggestions he would have to apologise for his conduct.

“I don’t think we need to apologise. We just need to do a better job,” he said.

“I don’t know why people think you can’t be vocal on the radio. This is a sport. If some people don’t like that, stay home.

“Maybe the team didn’t realise what they did wrong or they didn’t see it was so severe but in the car you have also different feelings.”

Next week’s Belgian Grand Prix is the last race on the calendar before Formula 1’s traditional month-long summer hiatus and if Sunday’s events are anything to go by, there are a few drivers who could use a break.