Hungary GP: McLaren's Controversial Call

McLaren F1 faces scrutiny after a contentious decision to swap driver positions during the Hungary GP.

McLaren’s victory in Hungary ended in sharp controversy, with Lando Norris admitting he almost refused a repeated team order to let Oscar Piastri cross the finish line first.

The order came because McLaren had prioritized Norris during a pit stop, even though Piastri had been leading the race from the start. The Australian then emerged from the pits in second place, prompting the team to reposition their drivers.

“I didn’t want us ending up behind a Mercedes or Ferrari,” explained Andrea Stella, head of the Woking-based team. “Like what happened to Max Verstappen.”

Headlines did not spare the team’s race management, with Blick stating that Norris was “robbed” of the win. The Spanish newspaper AS claimed that McLaren had “fabricated a problem.”

Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos also criticized Norris, who had already faced remarks earlier in the weekend suggesting he was “too nice” to ever be champion.

“I don’t know how far you can get by being a gentleman,” Doornbos told Ziggo Sport. “It means you’re not a killer. He lacks that killer instinct. The team messed up, and he had to clean up.”

A sound decision according to Sainz and Vasseur

At Ferrari, McLaren’s decisions seemed perfectly reasonable and fair. Carlos Sainz saw no issue: “From what I’ve been told, they did what was necessary. If they give a free undercut to your teammate, you have to give back the position. That’s something not all teams have done in the past.”

Scuderia director Frédéric Vasseur also agreed with the directive following a mistake: “The decision was initially tough for Piastri, then they made a decision I can understand.”

One of Norris’s arguments was that he was fighting for the championship, and former W Series driver Emma Kimilainen echoed this sentiment on Viaplay, questioning the strategy: “What is McLaren doing?”

“Max Verstappen is 76 points ahead of Norris in the world championship, so theoretically, Norris is the only driver who could beat Verstappen. Why wouldn’t they maximize his points? Additionally, he was the fastest driver.”

Ralf Schumacher also thinks this could be costly for McLaren at the end of the year: “We are talking about seven points. We will see what they are missing at the end of the year.”

According to Mercedes F1 head Toto Wolff, McLaren and Andrea Stella are learning late how to manage a team situation that could aim for the title: “Clarity within the team is important and they are learning it.”

“They have moved so quickly to a position where they can win with both cars that they must stick to the rules they already have. Andrea is demonstrating great leadership. It’s something new.”

More firmness in the directives?

According to Nico Rosberg, McLaren will need to learn to better handle this type of dilemma: “The situation was not well managed. They are in a new situation and are not used to dominating. But they must get used to it, and quickly.”

“McLaren is still in a learning phase because it has never been in this situation before, dominating and having two leading drivers is a new situation. They need to learn things, and one of them is clearly how to manage both drivers. They haven’t done a perfect job because of all these negotiations.”

Questioning Andrea Stella after the race, the 2016 World Champion advised clearer instructions: “I strongly recommend, guys, in managing this intra-team battle between the two drivers, to be extremely clear and firm.”

“Today, there was the phrase ‘at your convenience, Lando.’ For a driver, this opens the door to all sorts of ambiguities, and so that is what I strongly recommend for the future. Very clear and very firm instructions from the pit wall to the drivers.”

“Otherwise, you end up with a whole host of difficulties between drivers. And I speak from experience,” concluded the German, referencing his rivalry with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. His argument resonated, as Norris complied when his engineer, Will Joseph, raised his voice towards the end of the race.

Stella admitted that Rosberg was certainly right and that this is likely the way McLaren will need to proceed in upcoming races, although he understands his driver: “Nico, you speak from experience. I accept your recommendation and we will make good use of it.”

“When you are leading the race and you have such a conflict, you want to show the pace you have. That’s good and that’s what racing drivers do. And I want to lead racing drivers.”

“So it’s the car and the character of the driver I want to see, but they also need to understand the demands of the team. Lando showed both, as a racing driver and as a team player.”