Lando Norris won a fascinating Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, reducing the advance of the driver of McLaren Oscar Piastri in the 9 -point championship ranking during the last Formula 1 race before the summer holidays.
The race delivered a few last tense laps, the two rival titles fighting at the shoulder to shoulder for the victory to the last corner of the last round. By wading in traffic and back, Norris pushed a load piastri despite the older and worn tires.
“I died. I died! It was difficult,” said Norris in a post-course interview broadcast on ESPN. “It was difficult the last passage with the Oscar.
Victory was a statement from Norris, a sign that he is not ready to loosen his grip on the championship trophy. It was also a confidence after an often troubled season: Norris, who entered the season as a favorite, has often turned out to be the faster driver, but it was subject to errors that cost him precious points against the steel piastri and more coherent.
“We are so closely fought that it is difficult to say that the momentum is on the side of anyone,” he said. “It’s difficult but fun to run against Oscar.”
The Battle of the Formula 1 World Championship has devoted itself to a head-to-head confrontation between the two competitors of McLaren. Before the summer break of almost a month, Piastri has 284 points against Norris 275.
The reigning world champion four times Max Verstappen of Red Bull is in a third distant with 187 points; His hopes for a fifth title are almost finished. He finished 9th place in Hungary.
Piastri made an ambitious slit on Norris in the penultimate lap, but exaggerated it and locked its front wheel, crushing almost in its teammate. He received a sweet reprimand from his team on the radio: “Remember how we are going to run.”
“I pushed as hard as possible,” said Piastri after the race. “The car really came to life in the second half of the race.”
The director of the McLaren team, Andrea Stella, discussed the radio message to Piastri in an interview with F1TV after the race.
“The recall was for both: one, be sure not to dive too aggressively.” It’s just that they do their best, but all this should happen in our principles. “
It was the fourth consecutive race where McLaren drivers finished first and second, showing the domination of the papaya color team this year, which won its 200th F1 victory on Sunday. George Russell of Mercedes finished in third place after a fiery battle for the position of the final podium.
Leclerc wins the post but loses it in the race
Ferrari pilot, Charles Leclerc, captured a shock pole position on Saturday and led comfortably at the start of Piastri and Norris, who qualified in second and third place.
Norris took a decent start and stopped inside Piastri before his teammate moves to cut him, compromising Norris and costing him two positions in the opening corners.
Piastri’s move maintained it in advance on its rival at the start and gave it a preferential treatment for the first stop at the stand. But the Norris camp spicy things by playing on a one -shop strategy, making it oppose later in the 31st round. When Piastri once again opposed, in turn 46, he left about 12 seconds behind Norris – but wearing tires with 14 rounds younger to fight.
Piastri then went beyond Leclerc, making it a race of two people at the front between the rivals of the championship. He closed behind Norris and attacked him, but failed to pass.
“After seeing Lando for a [stop]I knew I was going to have to go beyond the right track, which must be easier to say than to do here, “said Piastri.” I tried a few things. It was a bet anyway. And today, unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side. »»
Hungary was the race that foreshadowed its rivalry a year ago. Piastri took before at first, but Norris resumed the position at Stand stops due to strategic decisions of McLaren. Then the team ordered Norris to slow down and let Piastri go beyond him for victory – which he did after having resisted it for many laps. It was a dramatic and controversial sequence that led to the first victory of the Grand Prix of Piastri in Formula 1. on the whole, Norris comfortably defeated the young Piastri throughout the 2024 season, but did not succeed in Verstappen in his offer for the championship.
This year, McLaren pilots were more uniformly equal. A series of radio messages halfway through McLaren pilots and their racing engineers crystallized the battle.
After plunging a gravel wheel, Lando was invited to “keep the home – you don’t want these mistakes”. He came a race after Norris was also put on a different tire strategy, but made some crucial errors that prevented him from questioning Piastri.
Piastri, on the other hand, was invited to mid-term if he wanted the strategy to focus on the Leclerc parade for the victory or the flexion of Norris for second place. Piastri’s response was revealing: “If you still think that beating Lando is realistic, then: doing that.”
“I don’t really care about Leclerc,” added Piastri on Team Radio a few laps later. “I just want the best chance of trying to beat Lando. This is the important thing right now. ”
It’s all about world championship.
Verstappen says that he stays in Red Bull
The race weekend also ended two of the biggest open questions in sport.
Verstappen, the reigning quadruple world champion, told journalists that he would stay with the Red Bull team besieged next season, finally installing persistent questions as to if he will jump the ship to Mercedes.
Ferrari announced that she again signed the director of the Frédéric Vasseur team to a “several years contract”, ending recent speculation on the leadership of the Italian team.
But everything was not well with the team this weekend. Leclerc expressed his frustration with the decision of the team halfway up while his hopes of victory faded. Leclerc finally lost third place on Tour 62, when Russell exceeded it.
And Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, the seven times world champion, qualified 12th in Hungary before being called “useless” while speaking to journalists. Hamilton finished in 12th place.
The next F1 race will take place on Sunday August 31 in the Netherlands.