Oscar Piastri took his maiden grand prix victory in a McLaren one-two ahead of Lando Norris in a dramatic race in Hungary amid a heated row over team orders. Behind them, in a race full of see-sawing action, old rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided as they disputed third place. Both continued but Hamilton […]
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Oscar Piastri took his maiden grand prix victory in a McLaren one-two ahead of Lando Norris in a dramatic race in Hungary amid a heated row over team orders.
Behind them, in a race full of see-sawing action, old rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided as they disputed third place.
Both continued but Hamilton held on to third and the Red Bull driver, his race full radio messages peppered with swearing, dropped back to finish fifth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
McLaren’s team orders controversy unfolded as they tried to manage their way to a one-two, their first since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
Piastri led Norris for most of the race after taking the lead in a three-car fight between them and Verstappen around the first corner.
But an earlier final pit stop for Norris – made by McLaren to protect him against Hamilton’s Mercedes, which had stopped earlier – put him ahead of Piastri.
Norris was repeatedly asked to slow and let Piastri back past, and reminded of his responsibility to the team, but he refused to do so until just two laps from the end.
His engineer Will Joseph reminded him to “remember every Sunday morning meeting” and “I tried to protect you”.
He also told him that “the way to win a championship is with the team – you’re gonna need Oscar and you’re going to need the team”.
Norris argued that Piastri would have to catch him before he would let him by but all the time he was extending his lead.
For a long time, it appeared as if Norris would refuse to carry out the order, but in the end he acquiesced.
Hamilton and Verstappen’s incident happened on lap 63 as the Red Bull driver dived for the inside at Turn One.
The Dutchman overshot the corner and Hamilton’s front left wheel caught the right rear of Verstappen’s as the Red Bull speared past and into the run-off area.
It was the climax of a bad-tempered race for Verstappen as he railed against Red Bull’s strategy choices, that first put him behind Hamilton and then at the second pit stop also behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen caught and re-passed Leclerc but his anger seemed to spill over into his driving as he tried to pass Hamilton.
It was their second battle of the race – Verstappen had been stuck behind Hamilton in the second stint after making a later first pit stop than the Mercedes driver and failed to get by after a number of attempts.
Verstappen complained about his car’s performance, lack of grip and the team’s pit stop choices, and when he was chastised by race engineer Giampiero Lambiase for going too hard too soon on his tyres after his final stop, he again swore.
“Don’t give me that now,” he said. “You guys gave me this strategy. I’m trying to rescue my race.”
But he did the opposite, and after the collision, he dropped behind Leclerc and was unable to catch the Ferrari.
(BBC Sports)
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