This Sunday at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, there was tension at the McLaren garage between their two drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Upon this, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has taken a serious step.
The Hungarian Grand Prix had one of the most iconic, memorable, and angry radio messages. One of the few was from the radio exchange between Lando Norris and his engineer, Will Joseph. During the race’s closing laps, the McLaren team had a critical discussion that hampered the relationship between the two drivers.
McLaren decided to pit Norris while running second, behind his teammate Piastri, to cover for Lewis Hamilton in third. However, this led Norris to undercut Piastri post-pitstop and lead the race, brewing tension. Eventually, after frustrated discussions and radio exchanges, he finally agreed and let Piastri go ahead on lap 68 of 70.
The Harsh Words to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from Andrea Stella
During the race, Norris’ engineer made multiple pleas to the Brit to persuade him to let Piastri pass:
“The way to win a championship is not by yourself; it’s with a team. You’re going to need Oscar; you’ll need the team.”
View this post on Instagram
Reflecting on the incident and the team order dispute, Andrea Stella, the McLaren Team Principal, issued a non-negotiable declaration to both Papaya drivers. He told the media, including RacingNews365:
“We have discussions with our drivers before every race, and it is about our principles… We talked about our principles going racing, and one principle—I don’t want to disclose too much—is that simple in that the interest of the team comes first.”
Stella ended with a firm warning, condemning the actions of the drivers for disputing the orders, despite multiple pleas:
“If you mess up on this matter, you cannot be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team. That is the principle.”
Lando Norris Lost the Race Before He Started
Despite the McLaren 1-2 and Piastri’s first Formula 1 win, there were tensions in the garage until the cooldown room. Eventually, after talking it out, Piastri and Norris were back on good terms.
Lando Norris was asked to comment on McLaren’s decision post-race, and he commented:
“I didn’t deserve to win the race… If Oscar’s led the whole race, it’s not fair, and I don’t think that’s how it should work—that he should just let me pass for me to win because I’m fighting for a championship.“
He concluded by clarifying:
“I didn’t give up the race win; I lost it off the line.”
View this post on Instagram
Norris ensured to acknowledge Piastri’s efforts to help him during various races. He said that Piastri was given preference in this race because he led it from the start, so it was not fair to let him lose his maiden win due to the much-needed controversial pitstop strategy.
During the post-race interview, Piastri reflected on the situation and the tension and commented:
“I think it was the right thing to do. I put myself in the right position at the start, and with the different strategy we had, my pace 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. Well executed by the team.”
Both the drivers supported the team’s decision and explained their perspectives while understanding the critical feedback from Andrea Stella and ensuring not to repeat their mistakes.
Rohit Kumar