McLaren defends Hungarian GP maneuver call after frustration with Oscar Piastre and Lando Norris on radio during race F1 News

Oscar Piastri has defended the team’s strategy during the Hungarian Grand Prix after initially being criticized as McLaren boss Andrea Stella lost out to team-mate Lando Norris.

Piastre started third but overtook Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and pole-sitter Norris at the opening corner to take the lead towards the end of the first lap.

McLaren tried to give the Australian strategic priority as their main driver on track, but pressure from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton forced them to give up in the second round of pit stops.

Piastri came in to hold track position over Hamilton but then lost his advantage over Norris due to a combination of the Brit’s superior pace and an unfortunate incident when backmarker Carlos Sainz made contact with the Williams.

Immediately after Sainz’s collision, for which the Spaniard was penalised, Piastri expressed his frustration on the radio, before Norris stopped and took a further dig at his team before coming out onto the track in front of him.

Stella said: “If you look at the race trace you can see that when Hamilton pitted, he was in a position to undercut the two McLarens, so we needed to react.

“Because if that’s the right way to drive cars to victory, then we need to have McLaren in a position to lead that way before Hamilton.

“So, it was either Oscar or Lando. Oscar was in the lead, and we thought he was the right car to stop for it. And then for Lando, it opened up a different strategy.

“So, it’s not like you’re deviating because you’re thinking about Oscar and Lando. You’re deviating because we needed to avoid Ferrari taking the race lead.

“I think then that has to do with the speed difference because Lando on the used tires was not much slower than the car on the new tires. And that’s where he took the victory today.

“So, I think it’s a win on speed, and Lando had the opportunity to take it, but not because the team wanted to make it. The team needed to cover Hamilton.”

Piastri: I was nervous at the moment but the pit stop timing was fine

Piastre, whose race was ended early on by a gearbox failure when he was second, would later admit that McLaren’s stop was justified and that their request for Norris to stop after his own collision with Sainz was not “reasonable”.

said plate Sky Sports F1: “I was devastated by Carlos and at this point, I was hoping that maybe they wouldn’t pit Lando because of that incident to at least give me a chance to be in the lead, but I think that’s not very reasonable.

“I was more upset at the moment with what happened. I think the timing of my pit stop was right, we wanted to beat Lewis and that’s what we needed to do.”

Before Piastri was disappointed, Norris put pressure on the McLaren pit wall as he repeatedly told them he was faster than his teammate and begged them to let him stop first.

Stella explained why she felt McLaren was right to reject Norris’ request as well as make the decision that resulted in their drivers changing positions.

“When you’re on a pit wall, you’re obviously constantly evaluating all options,” he said. “And you look at it from different angles. You make sure you can win a race like that.

“You can see what is the way to score as many points as possible for the team. But there is also a way, which is consistent with the way we are running.

“And I think until Oscar pitted, Oscar had the lead in a fair manner with action in corners one and two, so he deserved the chance to try and win the race.

“On other tracks, maybe, Lando could outrun Oscar. But in this case, it’s tough, you need a big speed advantage here to be able to do that.

“So, we were happy to give Oscar a chance to fight for the win. And then, at the same time, make sure we’re protecting the way we’re running. So, that’s what we’ve taken. Obviously, it’s always very marginal. There’s a lot of options that you can consider.

“But I think today was a well-executed race from a racing principle point of view. And I have to thank Oscar and Lando, because it wouldn’t have been possible without two drivers who accept and support the way we race.”

Piastri: Sainz should look in the mirror

Despite retracting criticism of his own team, Piastri remained unhappy with Saenz for the reason they clashed.

After criticizing the Spaniard in an expletive-laden radio rant shortly after the collision, Piastre later told reporters: “I knew there were blue flags, but all the marshal signals were blue flags, I was right behind him for a sector.

“I couldn’t believe what had happened. Being hit by a lazy car is never something you expect to go wrong in your race, and today it was, so I didn’t really care if he didn’t see me.

“The fact that he didn’t and nobody told him, or there was a complete lack of awareness, is unacceptable.”

Sainz largely defended himself after the race, claiming blue-flag signaling issues and that he was battling Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to make a “good excuse” for the incident.

Sainz also questioned whether Piastri could have been a little more cautious given the high stakes of competing to win a race.

Piastre was unimpressed when told about Sainz’s comments, responding: “He’s quite critical of others, and others have given him some stick before for being disappointing on-track.

“When you go and do something like that, maybe you should look in the mirror a little bit.”

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