During the final 10 laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the radio connecting the McLaren pit wall to Lando Norris reached arid, scorching temperatures.
Many, for more than a few moments, thought – even feared, especially at the Woking team’s pit wall – that Lando Norris had the idea of not giving up the deserved victory to Oscar Piastri, who was good at taking advantage of the duel between Max and his teammate at the start, to bring home as many points as possible in view of the World Championship.
Instead, with 3 laps to go, Norris did. He slowed suddenly on the straight, losing all 6 seconds he had so skillfully accumulated in the final stint on his teammate, and let him pass, giving up the lead and the win.
However, everything could have been decided by the most concrete team radio from the pit wall directed by Andrea Stella: “Think about the World Championship. If you don’t give up the victory, you could lose the help of your teammate”. At that point Norris stepped aside.
At the end of the race, the British driver’s face was eloquent, tense and tense as it hadn’t been for a long time. Even clearer was his response to Nico Rosberg, who, at the end of the race, asked him if he had thought about not letting Piastri pass: “The team asked me to do it and I did it. And that’s it”.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
A brief sentence, but one that in itself contains all the meaning, all the disappointments of a driver who would have preferred to take home 25 points and get even closer to a Max Verstappen who is clearly struggling.
Not surprisingly, Lando admitted that he still believes in titles, especially the Constructors’ Championship.
“I certainly believe in the World Championship. I certainly believe in the Constructors’ Championship, because McLaren has two excellent drivers and is a fantastic team. So absolutely yes. There is still a long way to go. And Spa can totally change the hierarchy, but we will continue to push to try to repeat ourselves.”
In the end, Lando emphasized how much Piastri deserved the victory. Even if his disappointment was evident, palpable, with every syllable he pronounced.
“It was a fantastic day for the team and I think that’s the key aspect today. I’m happy, it was a very long journey that led us to achieve this result on merit. What we did today was a great race. Oscar started well, he passed me and controlled the race. Sooner or later the first victory would have come and it came today. He deserved it.”
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