In a controversial race at the Hungaroring, Oscar Piastri claimed his first career victory. The Australian driver finished ahead of his teammate, Lando Norris, while Lewis Hamilton secured his 200th career podium.
Qualifying Summary: Tsunoda Helps McLaren To 1-2 in Q3
In a rain filled Hungarian qualifying, Lando Norris came out the fastest, with the final standings heavily influenced by VCARB Honda driver Yuki Tsunoda. Two minutes before the end of Q3, Tsunoda made a mistake by going wide at Turn 3, then crossing over the curb, launching his car into the air causing significant damage, which caused a red flag.
At that moment, Norris and Oscar Piastri were in the leading positions, the order did not change after qualification resumed. The primary reason behind this was most drivers had already used up their best tires prior to the red flag, as was the case for Max Verstappen, who could not return to the track as no usable tires remained. Max ended up in third place.
The worst performances in Qualifying went to Sergio Perez and George Russell; the Mexican driver crashed in Q1, ending up 16th, while Russell was one position lower due to mistiming his lap on a sudden rain downpour.
Race Summary: Norris / McLaren Team Orders Hands Win To Piastri
Hungary was a race full of controversies. In the final stages, an interesting outcome played out as Lando Norris finally obeyed team order to give the lead to Oscar Piastri. The race was also historically significant for the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who secured his 200th career podium.
Piastri had a great start, overtaking his teammate while Max Verstappen moved up to second place. However, it was determined that Max had reached that position improperly while off track and to avoid further investigation he gave the place back to Norris. McLaren drivers controlled the race afterward, while Verstappen, Hamilton, and Leclerc fought for the final podium spot.
Piastri had a convincing lead, but his team created an unnecessary problem. McLaren called Norris in 2nd place into the pits first as insurance to cover off a charging Hamilton, allowing him to take the lead. The team had previously decided that Piastri should be returned to first place following the stop, meaning Norris had to give up the leading position. Norris seemed to initially ignore the team’s order for some time, however eventually complied three laps before the end, with Piastri then back in the lead.
Pit radio was the main talking point in the final laps, with Norris seemingly trying to delay and avoid returning the place to Piastri despite team orders, before eventually complying after a final strong team demand. Despite this, Piastri deserved the victory, holding the lead essentially the entire race, has McLaren called him into the pits first as the leading driver, this would have prevented the race from having such a bizarre ending.
There was an exciting battle for third place with Max Verstappen managing to overtake Hamilton on lap 63, but Max made a mistake due to late braking and made contact sending him off the track. Verstappen then lost another position as Charles Leclerc overtook. Behind them were Carlos Sainz Jr. finishing sixth and Sergio Perez seventh. George Russell also managed to improve from his poor qualifying performance by finishing eighth, and Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll also scored the final points.
Podium Interviews
Following the race, Piastri stated in regards to his first F1 win
“[It’s] very, very special,” said Piastri. “This is really the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of an F1 podium. Obviously a bit complicated at the end but I put myself in the right position at the start, and thank you to the team for an amazing effort, and amazing car. It’s a hell of a lot of fun racing for McLaren so I can’t thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to be in F1, and to be able to win together 18 months in is an incredible feeling.”
Norris, when asked about his pit radio responses following the race, commented
“I know what I’m going to do, I know what I’m not going to do, “Of course, I’m going to question it and challenge it, and that’s what I did.
“It was not easy, but I also understood the situation I was in and I was quite confident always by the last lap I would have done it.”.
Lewis Hamilton also commented on his 3rd place finish
“I’m very happy for the points and thank you to the whole team. The battle with Max Verstappen doesn’t affect the nerves but I saw that he was coming back. In the last sector, he was particularly fast, he braked much later than me but he came through on the inside and our wheels touched when I turned, it’s a racing incident“.
Currently, Max Verstappen leads the overall standings with 265 points, while Lando Norris has 189. Charles Leclerc is in third place with 162 points.
Next weekend is the 2024 F1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps.
