“Extraordinary” team radio as McLaren make demands to Lando Norris
"The way to win a championship is not by yourself,” McLaren told Lando Norris
McLaren’s team orders to Lando Norris were labelled “extraordinary” by Martin Brundle at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris eventually succumbed to his team’s demands to allow teammate Oscar Piastri to overtake with two laps remaining.
Piastri went on to win his maiden F1 grand prix but the words exchanged between Norris and his bosses were in the spotlight.
After Piastri pitted, new race leader Norris was calmly told via team radio: "We want to re-establish the order at your convenience.”
On Lap 51 of 70, with Norris 3.5s ahead and leading the race, Piastri was told: "Once you get to Lando, we will swap the positions. But we want to avoid Lando giving up a lot of race time.”
Over the next few laps, Norris maintained his lead and showed little indication that he was willing to concede the victory to his teammate.
"You should have pitted him first,” Norris snapped on Lap 54.
His race engineer replied: "I know you'll do the right thing."
Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle insisted McLaren would face “a major issue” and “a breach of trust” if Norris did not comply with orders to let Piastri pass.
With eight laps to go, Norris was told via his radio: "Just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we have…”
With six laps left, Norris’ lead was up to almost six seconds.
"Lando, he can't catch you up,” he was told by his race engineer.
“You've proved your point. And it really doesn't matter.”
He was told with four laps left: "The way to win a championship is not by yourself.
“You're going to need Oscar. And you're going to need the team.”
With two laps left, Norris finally slowed down and allowed Piastri to go through. Norris finished second, Lewis Hamilton third.
It means that Norris - who won his first F1 grand prix in Miami - has narrowly missed more wins in Austria, Silverstone and now Hungary.
“The team asked me to, so I did it,” were Norris’ first words in parc ferme about McLaren’s team order.
Piastri said: "The longer you leave it of course, the more you get a bit nervous.
"It was well-executed by the team, and yeah, I think it was the right thing. I put myself in the right position nat the start.
"With the different strategy we had, yes my pace was probably wasn’t as quick as I would have liked in the last stint, but I was still in the right position to make it happen. So yeah, well executed from the team."
