What looked set to be a comfortable 1-2 for McLaren was overshadowed by the controversy over Formula 1 team orders, as Lando Norris appeared set to defy the team.
But was it the driver’s fault or did the team put itself in an unnecessarily difficult position?
Our writers offer their views.
McLaren made it harder on itself — Jon Noble
Life at the front of Formula 1 can be a difficult place at times, because when the battle revolves around wins then there is often this endless conflict between an individual driver’s interests and those of his team.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
But for all the logical explanations about McLaren wanting to ease the pressure on its pitcrews and avoid an error costing it a 1-2, it is hard to come to any other conclusion that the squad made things much more difficult than it needed.
It may have got the outcome it ultimately wanted after the second round of pitstops, with Norris eventually moving aside for team-mate Oscar Piastri with two laps to go, but the price was sowing seeds of doubts in the rivalry between its two drivers.
It can argue all it wants that it fully trusted Norris to eventually do what he had been asked to, but the repeated radio messages to him – which pulled on the emotional heartstrings at times in making references to not being able to win a championship alone – suggests it was not totally convinced.
What appeared to be missing above all else was a crystal clear plan that could be immediately executed.
It is one thing the pitwall knowing what it wanted to do, and asking for positions to be swapped back, but quite another trying to get things sorted without the drivers having a clear picture of what was going on.
Rather than unleashing a direct order to swap the places back, McLaren’s messages to Norris to «re-establish the order at your convenience» left far too much scope for delays and interpretation.
As Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said afterwards, it was situations like what McLaren experienced today – when individual driver and team desires are not totally in line – that prompted his own team to agree on clear rules of engagement for those times when Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Rosberg were fighting for victories. And from thereon in, there was never any messing about.
‘Valtteri, it’s James’ is perfect proof of that.
Norris gave McLaren a bigger headache than it needed — Alex Kalinauckas
From McLaren’s point of view, it had two bad choices to make over the second stops in the Budapest race its drivers were dominating.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, passes Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, as he exits the pit lane
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
With even Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in (faint) victory hunt behind, and with a raging Max Verstappen on a tyre life offset to consider around Lewis Hamilton’s perseverance, it was still really feeling the pressure. Also at play was the question of getting the C4 medium to the end on the hot, relentless Hungaroring track on a long final stint.
And so, McLaren opted to keep the pressure off its pitcrew by pitting Norris first – per team boss Andrea Stella – and ensure it covered Hamilton’s second stop and sort things out later.
Jon has covered the merits of that, but afterwards, everyone saw the choice Norris had to make. Being the determined character he is, he pressed on – showing his tyre management skills and dropping Piastri. The Australian blamed being in dirty air for the first time all race as a factor in his pace dropping off from that of his team-mate.
Having experienced the extra sliding the dirty air produces here even a few seconds back, Norris would’ve been well aware that could make his life hard again.
But there was an option that could’ve suited all parties. Norris, having made his point, could’ve given the place back much earlier. He gains sportsmanship points for eventually doing so, but perhaps had he done so much earlier he might’ve been able to re-attack and win on merit.
Falling out of the tyre temperature window is a risk, but from one point of view that would’ve saved McLaren a lot of angst (Will Joseph’s radio calls were packed full of emotion) and it still would’ve got the same result.
Norris feels he’s in the title fight and keeping Piastri happy could become critical later in the year. So, the right outcome was arrived at, but it took too long.