Lando Norris won a fascinating Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, cutting the leadership of McLaren’s pilot Oscar Pastri in the classification of the championship up to 9 points in the last Formula 1 race before the summer holidays.
The race delivered some last laps, with the two rivals of the title fighting the neck and neck for victory to the last corner of the last round. Wading traffic and rear markers, Norris defended a load piastri despite having larger and worn tires.
“I’m dead. I’m dead! That was difficult,” Norris said in an interview after the ESPN transmission. “That was difficult, the final period with Oscar caught: he was pushing flat,” he added, describing the most “rewarding” result after that intense fight.
The victory was a statement of Norris, a sign that it is not ready to loosen its control over the championship trophy. It was also an impulse of trust after a often crowded season: Norris, who entered the season as the favorite, has often proven to be the fastest driver, but has been prone to errors that have cost him valuable points against the Piastri Steely and more consistent.
“We are so closely fought that it is difficult to say the impulse on anyone’s side,” he said. “It’s hard but fun running against Oscar.”
The battle of the World Formula 1 championship has solidified in one confrontation one between the two McLaren rivals. In the direction of the summer holidays of almost a month, Piastri has 284 points for the 275 of Norris.
The four -time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull is in a distant third with 187 points; His hopes of a fifth title are almost finished. A humble ninth place ended in Hungary.
Piasstri made an ambitious stay in Norris in the penultimate return, but exaggerated her and closed her front wheel, almost crashing against her teammate. His team gave him a gentle reprimand on the radio: “Remember how we are going to run.”
“I pushed as strong as I could,” Piastri said after the race. “The car really became life in the second half of the race.”
The director of the McLaren team, Andrea Stella, discussed the radio message to Piasstri in an interview with F1TV after the race.
“The reminder was for both of them: one, be sure to immerse yourself inside too aggressively. The other does not move under braking,” Stella said, adding that he understands that they are both fighting for the title. “It is fair to do the best I can, but all this should happen within our principles.”
It was the fourth consecutive race where McLaren pilots ended first and second, showing the domain of the papaya team this year, which scored his 200 200 victory on F1 on Sunday. George Russell de Mercedes ended third after a battle fight for the final position of the podium.
Leclerc wins the pole but loses it in the race
Ferrari Charles Leclerc driver captured a position of the shock pole on Saturday and moved comfortably away from Piastri and Norris at the beginning, after they qualified second and third.
Norris had a decent start and approached Piastri’s interior before his teammate moved to cut it, compromising Norris and costing two positions in the opening corners.
Pastri’s movement kept him ahead of his rival at the beginning and gave him a preferential treatment for the first stop in boxes. But Norris’s camp spice things playing in a unique strategy, facing him later, on Vuelta 31. When Piastri faced again, on Tour 46, about 12 seconds behind Norris came out, but he wore tires that were 14 younger laps to fight.
Piastri then surpassed Leclerc, so it is a career of two people in the front among the championship rivals. He closed behind Norris and attacked him, but he couldn’t pass.
“After seeing Lando for one [stop]I knew I was going to have to advance on the track, which must be easier to say it than to do it here, “said Piastri.” I tried some things. It was a bet in any way. And today we were on the wrong side. “
Hungary was the career that pressed his rivalry a year ago. Piastri advanced to the beginning, but Norris withdrew the position at the stop stops due to the strategic decisions of McLaren. Then, the team ordered Norris to reduce the speed and let Pastri overcome him for victory, which he did after resisting it for many laps. It was a dramatic and controversial sequence that led to the first victory of the Piastri Grand Prix in Formula 1. In general, Norris comfortably defeated the youngest piastri during the 2024 season, but fell short for Verstappen in his commitment to the championship.
This year, McLaren drivers have been more united. A series of middle breed radio messages between McLaren pilots and their racing engineers crystallized the battle.
After submerging a wheel in the gravel, he was told to Lando that “he only kept the approach, you don’t want those mistakes.” A race arrived after Norris became similar to a different tire strategy, but made some crucial mistakes that prevented him from challenging Piastri.
Meanwhile, Pastri was asked Midrace if he wants the strategy to concentrate on challenging Leclerc for victory or defending Norris for second place. Pastri’s response was to say: “If you still think that beating Lando is realistic, then: do that.”
“I really don’t care Leclerc,” Piastri added on the team’s radio a few laps later. “I just want the best opportunity to try to beat Lando. That’s the important thing at this time.”
This is the world championship.
Verstappen says it stays in Red Bull
The race weekend also ended two of the biggest open questions in sport.
Verstappen, the four -time world champion of four times, told journalists that he will keep the Red Bull team next season, and finally resolved persistent questions about whether the ship will jump to Mercedes.
Ferrari announced that he will sign the team director, Frédéric Vasseur, a “several -year contract”, ending some recent speculation about the leadership of the Italian team.
But not everything was fine with the team this weekend. Leclerc expressed his frustration with the decision making of the team in the middle of the race as his hopes of Victoria faded. Leclerc finally lost third place in Tour 62, when Russell beat him.
And Lewis Hamilton de Ferrari, the seven -time world champion, qualified 12th in Hungary before calling himself “useless” while talking to journalists. Hamilton ended in 12th place.
The next F1 race is August 31 in the Netherlands.
