BUDAPEST. – Oscar Piastri celebrated his first Formula One victory as McLaren finished one-two at the Hungarian Grand Prix with the team ordering Lando Norris to hand back the lead on a day of drama.
Lewis Hamilton also took his 200th podium with third place for Mercedes despite a late collision with Max Verstappen that left Red Bull’s championship leader in fifth and behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
“This is really the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of an F1 podium,” beamed Piastri, who finished 2.141 seconds ahead of reluctant runner-up Norris, before the ceremonies.
“Obviously a bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in the right position at the start,” added the fifth Australian to win a championship grand prix.
The one-two was McLaren’s first since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, when Daniel Ricciardo won, and Norris was again second to an Australian teammate and made Piastri the seventh different winner in 13 races.
Verstappen’s championship lead over Norris was trimmed to 76 points, from a previous 84, while McLaren overtook Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ standings and was 51 adrift of Red Bull.
For lap after lap, it looked like Norris was going to ignore all the entreaties and go for the chequered flag and a second career win, whatever the consequences, but eventually he complied.
“The team asked me to do it, so that’s it,” Norris said in his pre-podium interview, making no attempt to hide his unhappiness.
Piastri said he was sorry it had proved more “painful” than necessary.
The 23-year-old seized the lead from pole-sitter Norris at the start as Verstappen swept into second with a short-cut after being forced wide and off the track in the battle for the first corner.
That’s a balance to be found between a perfect security, which is absolutely the priority.
And there is no discussion. There has never been any discussion to put at risk a security model. So, the base is how we can guarantee the security for the spectators and for
Verstappen had to give the place back as stewards investigated and Piastri was still leading when Norris came in for his second stop to cover against Hamilton.
The Australian pitted two laps later and came out behind Norris after a slower stop than his teammate.
McLaren told Norris to re-establish the order “at his convenience” with more than 20 laps remaining but the gap only grew larger.
“I know you’ll do the right thing,” Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph told him with 14 laps to go after the team repeated, they wanted Piastri to win. “Well, you should have pitted him first,” he replied.
