Lando Norris, who found himself inadvertently overshadowing team-mate Oscar Piastri’s first Formula 1 win in Hungary, expressed deep regret over the circumstances.
Norris, who had leapfrogged ahead of Piastri due to a strategic pit stop decision by McLaren, held onto the lead for 20 tension-filled laps. This delay in swapping positions, according to Norris, marred what should have been a jubilant celebration for Piastri. He explained to Sky Sports F1:
“Could it have been handled slightly differently from both the team side and a personal side? Yes, absolutely, and I think we wouldn’t have been having this conversation now in some ways.
“Whether people on the outside think and [are] going to come up with their own stories of what happened and what I would and wouldn’t have done, I don’t mind about that.
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“The things that I could have done, the fact that I kind of clouded over Oscar’s first race win in Formula 1 is something I’ve not felt too proud about.
“The fact we had a one-two and that was barely a headline after the race. The fact we had a one-two and nothing was really spoken about it from that side, that’s the bits I felt worse about.
“Apart from that we discussed it, we have spoken abut it. Both sides could have done things a little bit better, a little bit differently. It’s almost not good that we had it, but a good moment we’ve had it [at the same time], we’ve learned from it and hopefully it’s done better next time.”
Norris felt that the overshadowing of the team’s one-two finish, a significant achievement, was the most regrettable aspect. He expressed disappointment that “the fact we had a one-two and that was barely a headline after the race” left the whole team underappreciated.
The championship standings added another layer of complexity to Norris’s decision at the Hungarian GP. Despite being closer to the championship leader in points, Norris dismissed any bias within team decisions, vehemently stating:
“That had nothing to do with last week. I shouldn’t have led the race, that’s the end of it.
“Oscar got me off the line, he controlled it well, that was it. I shouldn’t have led the race and so people should then never have had the perception of ‘ah, the team are not biasing towards Lando’. If Oscar was leading the whole race there is absolutely zero reason why they should ask him to let me past.
“If you are thinking of it from a championship point of view, I don’t know when the point is of like if I’m 10 points behind, 15 points behind, whatever, at what point then do you go ‘can you help out a bit more’ or can you do this or do that?
“I don’t know when that point is and that’s not my decision. But when Oscar has led the whole race, controlled it well, and just from a strategy side they have boxed me first just to be safe, that’s just given the perception of something completely different.
“It shouldn’t do, internally we know it doesn’t. Oscar deserved to win and he did, as simple as that.”