Lando Norris did something very few Formula 1 drivers have ever done before at the Hungaroring on Sunday – give up the lead of a grand prix to allow his team mate to win instead.
Although it was not his fault that he found himself ahead of Oscar Piastri after the final round of pit stops, Norris was asked to move aside to allow the other McLaren back into the lead.
Over 20 laps, McLaren repeatedly asked Norris – through his race engineer Will Joseph – to surrender the lead to Piastri. This was so they could revert the positions of the two cars to the order they were in prior to their final pit stops. The team gave Norris the advantage of pitting first to protect him from the threat of Lewis Hamilton behind, but by doing so moved him ahead of Piastri.
Neither driver was responsible for the exchange of positions. However, McLaren immediately asked Norris to make way for his team mate as soon as it was “convenient” for him.
Norris continued to circulate in the lead of the race, eventually pulling his lead out to over six seconds as the laps ticked by. Although Piastri appeared unable to keep up with his team mate despite two-lap fresher tyres, Norris eventually complied with his team’s relentless requests to let Piastri through, at the start of the 68th lap of the race.
He admitted afterwards he considered staying ahead. Did he do the right thing by complying with McLaren’s team orders and giving up a near-certain victory?
For
As Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph made a point of saying during one of his many appeals to his driver over the radio in the race, Norris will need the full support of his team and team mate if he is to contend for a title – be that this season or in future years. Upsetting the team dynamic when McLaren have such momentum at present for the sake of a single race win and seven more points could prove counter-productive in the long-term.
Although Norris was able to pull away from his team mate in the final stint, the fact remains that he had lost the lead at the start to Piastri, who had led the entire race up until his final stop. It was only right that Piastri had his lead returned to him.
Against
If Norris is to have any hope of somehow closing his gap to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship and snatch a world title away from the Red Bull driver, then he has just made his job even harder by sacrificing those seven points.
Norris did nothing wrong by just so happening to be out in the lead of the…
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