Race report

F1 Hungarian GP: Piastri takes first grand prix win after Norris eventually follows team orders

Lando Norris eventually relents to radio call to let long-time Hungary F1 leader Oscar Piastri past late on

Oscar Piastri clinched his first Formula 1 victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, after a protracted McLaren team orders saga with Lando Norris throughout the final stint.

Piastri had led the entirety of the race after taking the lead into Turn 1, opening up a healthy lead over team-mate Norris in the opening stint and through the opening pitstop.

"In every condition we had the race under control to get the 1-2. I don't remember when McLaren's last 1-2 was!" Piastri said.

"The longer you leave [the team orders call], the more you get a bit nervous. But it was well executed by the team, it was the right call, I put myself in the right position at the start."

Despite McLaren's intention to manage the race, giving Norris the undercuts but with the express purpose of covering off the cars behind, the plot thickened when Piastri lost time on the exit of Turn 11 to bring Norris within 1.5 seconds.

The Australian driver managed to stabilise that lead ahead of the final pitstops and, despite being aware Norris would undercut him in the final round of pitstops, Piastri was told "not to worry" about his team-mate with the expectation that McLaren would switch position.

Norris hence made his stop on lap 45 and started to turn in quick laptimes on the medium tyre, with Piastri calling in on lap 47 and - as expected - was undercut by Norris.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Told to switch positions whenever he had an opportunity, Norris proved increasingly recalcitrant and told the team that he would only consider doing so whenever Piastri caught up - citing his younger team-mate's fresher tyres. Norris had extended his lead to six seconds, initially showing few signs of willingness to comply.

As the orders to Norris eventually became increasingly firm, the Briton eventually relented and slowed down on the start-finish straight at the start of lap 68, giving Piastri the lead and assuming second place.

Lewis Hamilton collected third place after surviving a Turn 1 assault from an increasingly frustrated Max Verstappen, who seemed to be in an irascible mood throughout the grand prix.

Verstappen had first been irked by the decision to let Norris through after the championship leader ran wide at Turn 1 and stayed ahead, and then sounded off about a strategy that allowed Hamilton to undercut him for third.

Hamilton had defended hard at the end of his second stint on hards, stymying Verstappen's progress, and then undercut the Red Bull driver once again - as did Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth.

Although Verstappen got past Leclerc and once again ratcheted up the pressure on Hamilton, the Red Bull driver struggled to find a way past and eventually resorted to a dive into Turn 1 - which caught Hamilton as he was turning into the corner and sent Verstappen slightly airborne.

Leclerc thus got past once again as Verstappen recovered, while Carlos Sainz attempted to put the irritated Dutchman under pressure towards the end of the race - but eventually ran out of pace to challenge for fifth.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20 crash

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Sergio Perez recovered from his Q1 crash to finish seventh with a long stint on the hards, but held just enough over George Russell to ward off the Mercedes driver.

Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll completed the top 10, Stroll once again beating Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso into the points.

F1 Hungarian GP Result

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81	70	1:38'01.989			2	25		McLaren	Mercedes
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	70	+2.141 1:38'04.130	2.141		2	18		McLaren	Mercedes
3	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	70	+14.880 1:38'16.869	12.739		2	15		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	70	+19.686 1:38'21.675	4.806		2	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	70	+21.349 1:38'23.338	1.663		2	10		Red Bull	Red Bull
6	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	70	+23.073 1:38'25.062	1.724		2	8		Ferrari	Ferrari
7	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	70	+39.792 1:38'41.781	16.719		2	6		Red Bull	Red Bull
8	G. Russell Mercedes	63	70	+42.368 1:38'44.357	2.576		2	5		Mercedes	Mercedes
9	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	70	+1'17.259 1:39'19.248	34.891		1	2		RB	Red Bull
10	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	70	+1'17.976 1:39'19.965	0.717		2	1		Aston Martin	Mercedes
11	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	70	+1'22.460 1:39'24.449	4.484		2			Aston Martin	Mercedes
12	D. Ricciardo RB	3	69	1 lap			2			RB	Red Bull
13	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	69	1 lap			2			Haas	Ferrari
14	A. Albon Williams	23	69	1 lap			2			Williams	Mercedes
15	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	69	1 lap			2			Haas	Ferrari
16	V. Bottas Sauber	77	69	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
17	L. Sargeant Williams	2	69	1 lap			3			Williams	Mercedes
18	E. Ocon Alpine	31	69	1 lap			3			Alpine	Renault
19	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	69	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
dnf	P. Gasly Alpine	10	33	37 laps			2		Hydraulics	Alpine	Renault
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