How McLaren’s radio messages played out in the Hungarian GP

McLaren’s protracted team order calls on the radio to Lando Norris, as it tried to convince the British driver to cede position to long-time Hungarian Grand Prix leader Oscar Piastri, occasionally strayed into combative territory.

Norris had been granted an undercut strategy despite running behind team-mate Piastri on the road, although the two had been split by over four seconds until Piastri took a trip off-road at Turn 11 to cut the gap by around 2.5s.

This put the team’s strategy into more precarious waters, as it became certain that Norris would overlap his team-mate as the two came in for their stops.

There were concerns that the McLarens would get caught out by Lewis Hamilton’s undercut strategy, or a potential undercut from Max Verstappen, and thus the team wanted to cover this off by stopping Norris first.

Here is the transcript of the deliberations between the respective engineers, Tom Stallard calling the shots for Piastri, and Will Joseph handling Norris’ race from the pitwall.

Lap 43, Tom Stallard to Oscar Piastri: We think we will not try to cover Hamilton. It’s very early to stop now.
L43, TS: Oscar, how far do you think we can get? Can we get to Plan A target lap?
L43, Will Joseph to Lando Norris: Lando, gap to Hamilton is 28.5, we think it’s a bit early at the moment. We’d like to do target minus five at whatever pace we can get.
L45, WJ: Lando, opportunity: Turn 2 braking point is good, less peak.

Joseph’s later message to Norris appeared to be a somewhat coded call to stop, and he duly did so at the end of lap 45.

Piastri, who was still leading, was kept abreast of his team-mate’s movements in the pitlane. Stallard informed Piastri that Norris had now completed his final pit service – a switch from the hard to medium tyres. The Australian was going to get the same tyres, but at the end of lap 47 to stretch the stint marginally more, so Piastri was asked to take the rest of life from his tyres before pitting one final time.

L46, TS: Lando has pitted to cover Hamilton. We’ll manage that situation. Best pace from you now. Best pace.
L46, TS: Best pace, don’t worry about Lando.

Norris was also kept informed and, as Piastri emerged from the pits well clear of Hamilton, McLaren felt confident it had locked in a 1-2 finish. Thus, Joseph told Norris to enact the switch at the most opportune time.

L48, WJ: Okay Lando, Oscar has…