McLaren pleaded with Lando Norris for 20 laps to let his team mate Oscar Piastri into the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
His race engineer Will Joseph made appeal after appeal to Norris, who appeared reluctant to give up his shot at victory and lose seven precious points in his pursuit of championship leader Max Verstappen.
At first he told Norris the team wanted to “re-establish the order at your convenience.” However they had also told Piastri he needed to get within range of Norris before they swapped the order.
The team were concerned how hard Norris was pushing and in a series of messages urged him to moderate his pace. These went unanswered for so long Joseph decided to check his driver could actually hear him.
“Lando, radio check please,” he said. “Yes, loud and clear,” Norris replied. “Okay, save the tyres in turn four and 11 then please,” answered Joseph.
But still Norris refused to back off, maintaining his gap over Piastri at three-and-a-half seconds. “We need you to save more tyres please and we do want to let Oscar through,” Joseph reminded him. “We should have boxed him first, then, surely?” replied Norris. Told that “doesn’t matter,” Norris answered: “I mean, it does. For me, maybe.”
Joseph continued to bombard Norris over the following laps. “Lando we still think you’re using the tyres too much turn four, turn 11, and the rears at exit turn six, turn nine,” he said. “Oscar’s 3.5. I know you’ll do the right thing.”
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He tried telling Norris their tyre expert Hiroshi Imai was “stressed about the tyre use”. He drilled home the message about saving the tyres at “turn four, turn 11” over and over. “It’s going to get boring,” Joseph added.
McLaren were clearly seriously concerned Norris was not going to let Piastri by. “Just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have,” Joseph said. “Tell him to catch up then,” Norris answered.
“Lando there are five laps to go,” Joseph urged as they neared the chequered flag. “The way to win a championship is not by yourself. It’s with the team. You’re going to need Oscar and you’re going to need the team.”
But after the race Norris said he never intended to deny Piastri victory. He only intended to wait until the last moment, and said he didn’t need to give the team any indication what he had planned.
“I know what I’m going to do and what I’m not going to…
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