McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris reflect on the happening in F1 Hungarian GP and how they have learnt from some unnecessary moves.
A week after what all transpired in F1 Hungarian GP, McLaren pair of Piastri and Norris are aligned in the thought that it dragged too much at Hungaroring and that the experience from it will now help in making better decisions going forward.
Piastri reiterates that the win was not given or handed to him, but he deserved it and earned it after the Lap 1 pass, even though the last stint didn’t work in his favour. He reckons the strategy was such with the idea that Norris will give up.
In fact, the Brit too knew that he will have to give up but now feels stupid to have let it drag so much when he could have easily given up earlier. Had he done so, he could have clawed back onto his tail and forced for a change if at all.
At the same time, Piastri stated that he understood that selfishness can creep in anyone’s mind as it did for Norris, but eventually the team game was played up, so it is all fine. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be discussions, there will be to fine tune and handle it well.
Norris, meanwhile, feels guilty to overshadow the first F1 win of Piastri and also steal the potential McLaren 1-2 headlines to instead only talk about the team’s handling of it and communication gaps. They also add about their relation and playing Monopoly.
Earned, not given –
Piastri: “In an ideal world, maybe, but for me I feel like I deserved it. The last pit stop was only done that way because we were in a team one-two. There was full trust that we were going to reverse that. So for me I feel like I deserved it. I don’t feel like it was given to me or anything like that. It’s not to say there’s not things I could still do better. But at the end of the day I put myself in a good position at the start of the race. If we were genuinely racing at that point then we wouldn’t have pitted the way we did. So, I feel like I deserved it.
“I’m not sure I’d say he gave it to me, maybe he gave it back to me. But ultimately he did give the position back, I know it’s not an easy position to be in. Especially as we all want to go out and win. Maybe it took a few laps longer than maybe I thought, but it still happened, and it’s extremely easy in the heat of the moment, leading a race, to think selfishly, and I would have thought selfishly as well, but we go racing for McLaren knowing that certain decisions are made with the team in mind and that we are racing for the team at the end of the day.”
Norris: “A little bit of all. Could it have been handled slightly differently from both a team side and a personal side? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And I think we wouldn’t be having this conversation now in some ways. Whether people on the outside come up with their own stories of what happened, and what I would have done and wouldn’t have done, that kind of thing, I don’t mind about that. 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. The fact we had a 1-2, and that was barely a headline after the race, the fact we had a 1-2 and nothing was really spoken about from that side, yeah, that’s the kind of thing I felt worse about. Apart from that, 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.”
Team still need to discuss –
Piastri: “I mean it is still something to discuss a little bit. There was very sensible decision, we have gone through that part of things for sure, it is not given that if Max had got through Lewis and Charles, he could have posed a threat, if Lewis kept going and we are behind him then, he also still could have been a threat. We saw with Max in the end, so I think there were very sensible decisions and done with complete trust in Lando and myself in mind. So, I think that side of things was very sensible. It is obviously a little bit different when you are fighting for wins, of course there is an element of not wanting to give it up, no matter what side of it you are on, so it is maybe we need to adjust slightly but I think we always need to remember that we are racing for the team and trying to win the constructors’ championship. I mean it [rules of engagement] is something we basically have in place already.
“We discuss that we’re racing for the team, and we’ve been, maybe not in a one-two scenario but we’ve been close to each other a lot of times on track and close for podiums and stuff like that before. Again, this situation specifically was pretty nuanced and maybe we hadn’t discussed fully, but I think there is an expectation that we’re going to race each other hard, but fair, and never come into contact. I think we always have in mind that certain strategic decisions – like the second pit stop timing – are down with the team’s ambitions in mind. Like I said, if we were flat out racing each other and we didn’t have anyone else to worry about behind then the pit stop order would have been completely different I’m sure. But we did have cars to worry about so that’s why we swapped it and that’s why we swapped it back.”
Action of Norris –
Piastri: “I mean, yes and no. I wasn’t surprised because he’s a racing driver winning an F1 race. It’s only natural to want to do that and give yourself every opportunity. Maybe it went on for a bit longer than I expected it to. I think that’s also something we need to discuss, whether there would have been more opportunities to race each other if things had been done a bit differently. We discuss a lot of things as a team but you can’t plan for every single scenario. 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 he wanted to keep the lead of the race and I think it’s only natural. As for my last stint and me dropping back, the dirty air does have a big impact, even from that far back. To be honest, I think we were very evenly matched the whole race. I pulled a little bit of a gap in the first and second stint, Lando pulled a bit of a gap in the third one, so I think we were very evenly matched and ultimately track position was a massive key for that. That’s especially why I feel like I deserve [the win], because I gave myself the track position in the start.”
Thoughts then, now –
Norris: “I should have just let him past straight away. Such a stupid thing that I didn’t, because we’re free to race. 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. Such a simple thing like that, you know, I could have done. But I was just in a good rhythm, and things were going well at the time. I questioned it at the time, questioned the team a few times. But I knew from as soon as they boxed me ahead of him, or before him, that I was going to have to let him go. I was a bit silly and didn’t let him go earlier.
“[It was] once [that I went through it in my mind]. I don’t need to overthink it or overcomplicate it. It was a couple of very simple things, I feel like it’s turned into a much bigger deal than it needs to be. It was always clear, I was always knew that I had to let him go. But the longer I waited – just because it didn’t matter if I let him go straight away or at the end necessarily – the more people questioned whether I would have done it or not. I think that’s the main feeling. A lot of people think that I wouldn’t have done, but I knew I had to so it made no difference. But I don’t need it replayed. I just know that I should have let him past earlier, then I still could have had a chance to try and win the race myself. That’s what I should have done.
“If I thought of that [give the place and fight back] at the time, 100 per cent I would have done it. I didn’t think of that for whatever reason, so I just probably wasn’t thinking of the right things at the time. There was no ‘no’. As soon as they basically said ‘let him pass now’, I let him pass straight away. There was never a factor of ignoring, not listening all these types of things. It was always clear what I wanted to do and needed to do, but I just let it go on for a little bit too long.”
Strategy –
Norris: “We do things for reasons. We didn’t need to, it was better for Oscar’s race also to go slightly longer and have slightly fresher tyres and that kind of thing. So inevitably, from a correct strategy side of it, you are always going to box the second driver first and how late can you box in the race. It was actually quite an early stop sequence at the time, it was quite early in the stop sequences, and that is why we were a little bit concerned about tyres. And that’s why they boxed me first and let him do two laps more, otherwise, yes, they could have just boxed him before. For both of our races at the time it was better to do it the way we did it.
“As done by the team for doing it for that reason, so potentially I just made it a little bit more complicated and nerve-wracking for the team than what it needed to be. I think uncertainty from sides created a much bigger thing than what it was, but we still have a lot of trust and faith on one another, it is basically our whole foundation built upon, so that’s the most important thing. We got a racing in the end, things from both what I want and what I asked and what I questioned from the team, it could have been better. And also the team having understanding of what I wanted to do, make things slightly more clear from my side would have helped.”
Relation now –
Piastri: “We’ve not really spoken much about the race. We’ve shared McDonald’s and played Monopoly. We’re still on good terms, on the same terms. We’re all good and there’s still a lot of respect there between us. We know, it goes both ways. We’re still good.”
Norris: “I think he knows. We spoke straight away and did a lot of our interviews together and things like that. I said I felt bad for what happened and the way his first win went. I hope he knows it in that kind of way and I think he does, so I’m fine with it.”
F1 drivers say and decision –
Lance Stroll: “Difficult one.”
Kevin Magnussen: “I mean, it depends on the situation, but it would have certainly been tempting to hold on to it. But, you know, it totally depends on where you are with the team and what sort of history there is behind as well, I guess.
Carlos Sainz: “Not that kind of history, for sure. We were not fighting for easy one-twos at my time in McLaren. A team order is a team order. And I think the team always comes first. It’s been that way, the way I’ve approached my Formula 1 career over these last 19 years. And yeah, a team order, as much as it hurts, and it must have hurt to have let Oscar by, it’s a team order. And yeah, analysing the situation, if they give you an undercut for free on your team-mate, most likely than not, you need to let your team-mate by. Because if not, you wouldn’t be in front of him if it wasn’t for that undercut. I personally think you guys are being very tough on McLaren.
“I think if you see where McLaren were a year and a half ago and where they are right now, it’s something to admire and something that only them have achieved with the way that they’ve developed the car, developed the team and put themselves in a position to even be considering fighting for the championship. Whether they will win it or not by seven points, those seven points might be somewhere else, not only in the event of Hungary, might be because they started the season further behind maybe than what they wanted and not in that exact race from Hungary. Personally, I admire a lot Andrea Stella, the way that he’s handling the team, the way he’s handling every situation, how calm everything looks in McLaren, even if you guys are pushing them to fight for bigger things. But I think they are in the right trend and right now they are the strongest team in Formula 1, so hats off to them.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “Yeah. I mean, I agree. I think these things come around. I think the advice he was given was also good. Because in the heat of the moment, you don’t kind of see it all, so to speak. It’s like you see a win in front of you, and that’s it. You know, they’re talking about the championship and we win as a team and you might need Oscar’s help and this and that. And I think that’s kind of the perspective sometimes you need, I guess, in the heat of the moment. And yeah, that’s a thing. Also, as Carlos said, it’s a team game and you do need the team to help you. And there’ll be times where, again, it comes around and it’ll work in his favour. As much as you don’t want to hear it, of course, at times, and yeah, we’re all here to win. I think long-term play, it’s definitely the smartest one.
“It’s hard because I think, you know, if in that case, obviously we’re talking about Lando and Oscar here. So in the case of Lando staying in front and then it fractures the relationship, not only with the team, but then with your team-mate and Oscar, you know, there’s not three races to go. There is still half a season to go. Yeah, I just think with that and looking ahead at the rest of the season, yeah, there will be times where Lando might need to lean on Oscar. And if you fracture that still with a half a season to go, I think that’s where it becomes difficult. So, yeah, look, maybe me as a young kid in Formula 1 would have thought very different about this. But I think with age and a little bit of experience and wisdom, I think this is the way you have to look at it.”
Valtteri Bottas: “I’ve been there, mate. Yeah, it’s…there were a few. You know, I think everything’s been pretty much mentioned already and agreed that there’s certain rules, depends on the team, depends on the situation, but normally it comes back to you. So obviously I would give the place back because I’m an amazing team player. And no. In my whole life, no regrets.”
Here’s what some F1 peeps said on McLaren scene
Here’s Oscar Piastri reflecting on F1 win, Mark Webber
Here’s McLaren trio on what transpired
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
