A furious Lando Norris was forced to give up the second Formula One victory of his career after he followed a McLaren team order to allow Oscar Piastri to win a controversial Hungarian Grand Prix.
A mediocre getaway from pole position at the Hungaroring saw Norris drop behind team-mate Piastri.
But he was handed an apparent lifeline by McLaren when they pulled him in for his second tyre change two laps earlier than his team-mate.
The undercut propelled Norris into the lead, and he held a five-second advantage over Piastri.
However, the Englishman faced a barrage of orders from his race engineer, Will Joseph, to give the place back to Piastri despite his pursuit of Max Verstappen for the world championship.
OSCAR PIASTRI IS A FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX WINNER! 🇦🇺
HE'S DONE IT AT THE HUNGARORING 🏆#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/foIq7krsNs— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2024
Norris slowed down on the main straight with three laps remaining to allow Piastri to take the lead.
“You don’t need to say anything,” he said over the radio. Norris finished one place clear of Lewis Hamilton, with Charles Leclerc fourth and Verstappen fifth.
Hamilton collided with Verstappen on lap 63 of 70 as they duelled for third place with Mercedes accusing the Dutchman of “arriving out of control”.
Norris insisted ahead of the 13th round of 24 that he did not need to prove a point after he could, and probably should, have arrived here with four consecutive victories under his belt, but for mistakes by driver and team.
But Norris also admitted he craved a clean start that would have allowed him to control Sunday’s 70-lap affair. Unfortunately for him, that failed to materialise.
Norris complained of a failure with his throttle on his drive to the grid and his mechanics scrambled to resolve the problem in the minutes leading up to the race.
Norris was strapped in for the start but when the five lights went out he fell down the order.
He aggressively swooped over to his right to defend from Piastri, allowing Verstappen to assume the racing line unchallenged.
As the trio slammed on the brakes for the first corner, the were line astern with Piastri taking the apex and the lead while Verstappen ran off the track.
He came back on in second place and Norris was frantically on the radio demanding the stewards take action.
BLOCKBUSTER IN BUDAPEST! 🍿😍#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/zdJUny8sxC
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 21, 2024
The incident was soon under investigation and Verstappen was advised by his Red Bull team to give the place back to Norris, which he duly did on lap four.
Norris and Piastri pitted for new tyres on lap 17 and lap 18 respectively while Verstappen, bemoaning the handling of his machine, was left out on lap 21, demoting him to fourth behind Hamilton.
On lap 35, Verstappen attempted to move back ahead of Hamilton but he ran off the road. “The thing just doesn’t f****** turn,” Verstappen said. “It is unbelievable.”
Norris headed into Sunday’s race 84 points behind Verstappen and a win would have allowed him to take a sizeable chunk out of the Dutchman’s lead.
He was called in for his second pit stop on lap 45, to cover off Hamilton, while Piastri stopped two laps later. When it all shook out, Norris emerged at the head of the field before he was told to “re-establish the order” by the McLaren pit wall.
🏁 RACE CLASSIFICATION 🏁
How we finished in Hungary. McLaren's 1-2, Perez and Russell fighting back to the points and a retirement for Gasly#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/mzf87ZsGQW— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2024
At one stage, it looked certain that Norris would ignore the order, before Joseph pleaded with him to trade positions on numerous occasions.
“We know you will do the right thing,” said Joseph before he added: “The way to win a world championship is with a team and you are going to need Oscar and you are going to need the team.” Joseph added: “You have proved your point.”
Norris slowed down on lap 68 with Piastri moving ahead as McLaren landed their first one-two finish in nearly three years.
“The team asked me to do it, so I did it and that is it,” Norris said afterwards.
Hamilton followed up his win at Silverstone a fortnight ago with another podium after he drove well to keep Verstappen at bay.
Verstappen, who described Red Bull’s strategy as “s***”, passed Leclerc for fourth, but as he attempted to get ahead of Hamilton at the opening corner he broke too late and made contact with his one-time rival’s Mercedes.
Hamilton maintained third, but Verstappen dropped back behind Leclerc for fifth. Verstappen’s lead over Norris stands at 76 points ahead of next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
