McLaren’s Piastri Wins Maiden Grand Prix in Hungary
Oscar Piastri earned his debut Grand Prix victory in Hungary after intra-team drama played out, with McLaren team mate Lando Norris belatedly responding to an order to hand back the lead to the Australian who had lost out due to the team’s pit stop strategy.
After the duo went three abreast with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen off the line, Piastri emerged as the leader into Turn 1 and from there led much of the Grand Prix. However, when Norris was pitted first during the second round of stops – seemingly to cover off Lewis Hamilton behind – the Briton was the one to emerge ahead.
This prompted the team to make several calls to Norris to give back the position to his fellow McLaren driver, an order that he seemed reluctant to follow for many laps. However, on Lap 68 of 70, Norris slowed down and allowed Piastri to pass.
The 23-year-old went on to take the win, two seconds up the road from Norris. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, claimed the final podium position in third for Mercedes, having faced drama of his own after contact with Max Verstappen during a late-race battle.
Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, while Verstappen dropped down to fifth and will also be investigated by the stewards for his incident with Hamilton. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz followed in sixth, ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez who made ground from his P16 starting position.
George Russell also took points after starting back in P17, having crossed the line in P8, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top-10.
Fernando Alonso just missed out in P11 for Aston Martin, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who had a somewhat disappointing day in the RB after lining up in P9 on the grid.
Nico Hulkenberg took 13th place in the Haas, while Alex Albon followed for Williams in 14th and Kevin Magnussen put his Haas into 15th place.
Kick Sauber’s search for points continues as Valtteri Bottas ended the day in P16, with Williams’ Logan Sargeant behind in P17.
Alpine’s tough weekend also endured as Esteban Ocon took P18, while Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu was the final classified runner in P19.
Pierre Gasly became the sole retiree after suffering a suspected hydraulic leak in the Alpine.
