Norris Gives in to Team Orders, Paving the Way for Piastri's Maiden Win

In his second season in Formula One, Oscar Piastri took his maiden win in the sport at the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren dominating the weekend as competitors struggle, ending the weekend with a 1-2, their first since Monza 2021.

 

It was an early Q1 exit for both Sergio Perez in the Red Bull and George Russell in the Mercedes. Sergio Perez crashing out of the session bringing out the first red flag, Perez making a habit of not making it past Q1 leading many to speculate his future with the team. George Russell in a case of bad luck and a poor strategy call failed to move into Q2, qualifying in P17 for Sundays Grand Prix with Perez ahead in P16.

 

For a second consecutive weekend, Gasly started the weekend from the back of the grid after bad form in qualifying, this time making his start from the pitlane. Gasly taking a new power unit this weekend after a unlucky qualifying session and a DNF following the formation lap the previous weekend at Silverstone.

 

Lando Norris secured pole position with Oscar Piasri just missing out on a pole by a few hundredths of a second. Both McLarens locking out the front row. Verstappen unhappy with his car this weekend settled for P3 with Hamilton to give him company alongside him in P4.

 

Going into Turn 1 it was a 3-way battle between Norris, Piastri and Verstappen. Verstappen misjudging the space and going wide but managing to get ahead of Norris. Piastri benefiting from the incident and moving up into the lead of the race. Verstappen was noted by stewards for leaving the track and gaining an advantage but wasn’t penalised after he gave the place back to Norris on lap 4.

 

Hamilton remaining in the battle with the top 3 runners, made an early pit stop on lap 17, switching onto a set of hards, made an undercut on Verstappen, re-joining the track in P7 ahead of his teammate. Hamilton defending well, Verstappen coming into the pits on lap 22 and coming out behind Hamilton in P5.

 

The battle between Hamilton and Verstappen was one to focus on this weekend. The battle heating up again on lap 35, Verstappen getting ahead of Hamilton after Hamilton locked up, Verstappen carrying too much pace and going wide shortly after allowing Hamilton to sneak back ahead.

 

Hamilton was once again the first of the front runners to pit on Lap 41, re-entering the track in P5. Norris pitted next to undercut his teammate, Piastri pitted a lap later on lap 47, Piastri being told over the radio to not worry about Lando, the expectation that the team would later switch the driver order.

 

Hamilton and Verstappen were at it again once more for a final piece of entertainment on lap 62. Hamilton continued to hold his grand and stayed ahead of the Dutch driver, the door opened for Verstappen when Hamilton went wide at turn 2. Hamilton quickly reclaimed his position to stay ahead. Verstappen not giving up came back for the place a lap later going into turn 1 in a ‘childish’ move labelled by team principle Christian Horner. Verstappen locking up and clipping the Mercedes, sending the Bull up in the air and into the runoff area. Verstappen re-joined a few places behind now stuck behind the Ferrari of Leclerc, allowing Hamilton to carry on and hold on to the final podium place.

 

Verstappen having an appalling race, Verstappen continued to whine about his car over the course of the weekend, Verstappen also making a series of unnecessary mistakes, the team struggling to back their driver as he continued to shift the blame on the other drivers. Team Principle unhappy with his driver warned that they would discuss the situation after the race.

 

Going into the final laps the team continued to remind Norris of their expectation of him to swap places with his teammate, Norris not making it easy for the team and disobeying order as the number of laps to the chequered flag continued to narrow. Eventually with 3 laps to go, Norris put the interest of the team in front of his own allowing Piastri to pass and take the lead of the race. Piastri held the lead right to the chequered flag to take his maiden win for the team.

 

Norris followed behind to make it a 1-2 for the Woking team, Hamilton followed 14 seconds behind to make it a 5th consecutive podium for the team from Brackley. Piastri also picked up the fans driver of the day, while Russell, who finished P8, took the fastest lap to make it 3 points this weekend after a DNF at home in Silverstone.