McLaren driver Oscar Piastri remains calm after missing out on victory in Hungary – no recriminations towards the team or his teammate Lando Norris
This defeat hurts – more than he lets on. Especially because Oscar Piastri did nothing wrong. The Australian and his side of the McLaren garage were simply outsmarted by Norris’s side. Nevertheless, the resentment is limited. Piastri reiterates that he supports the team’s decision to put him on a two-stop strategy. After all, he was in favor of it himself.
Piastri commented soberly on Sky that Norris switched to a one-stop strategy thanks to a cleverly orchestrated radio maneuver, thereby securing his ninth career victory: “For Lando, it was a manageable risk in the race. He didn’t have much to lose after the first lap. For me, it looked very different.”
After the first lap, it was clear that McLaren would give Piastri pit priority, as the Australian was ahead of Norris in the early stages. As in Spa, this meant that the Piastri side could override a proposed pit stop by Norris, which it did. This time, however, it was based on a fake radio message from Norris, who only hinted at a pit stop.
Piastri nevertheless remains fair: “It’s always easy to say in hindsight whether it was the right decision. But we wanted to win, and to beat Leclerc, we had to try something. Sure, maybe it wasn’t ideal. But I’m not blaming anyone.“
Traffic, not strategy, was the problem
”Before the race, we thought two stops would be best, and that probably would have been the case if we’d had a clear run. But as it was, it was one stop with a clear run against two stops with traffic. That’s a completely different story. In hindsight, it’s easy to say that one stop was better, but a second could have made all the difference here.”
In fact, the undercut attempt against Charles Leclerc following Norris’ radio message was the moment that sealed Piastri’s strategy. “We didn’t feel like we could just pass him like that. So we wanted to try a strategic trick,” Piastri explains.
However, the undercut effect wasn’t strong enough after 18 laps. Leclerc parried with a stop on the next lap, leaving Piastri stuck with another stint. It was unfortunate that it wasn’t enough to secure victory in the end, but it’s no drama: “It was still a good race.”
Norris ⚔️ Piastri: How did they not collide?! F1 HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/Wu3LmlcOwP
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 3, 2025
Piastri overtook Leclerc at the start of the final stint on the track, but was unable to catch Norris in the final sprint. “I have no idea what happened to Charles at the end,” said Piastri. “But overall it was a pretty fun race, even though it would have been nicer to win, of course.”
The one-stop strategy for Norris was only decided during the race. Piastri confirmed: “It wasn’t completely off the table, but we weren’t seriously considering it. And when you’re sitting in the cockpit during the race, it’s very difficult to judge whether it’s a realistic option.”
Piastri left open whether they should have acted differently with a view to the World Championship:
“Of course, we’ll look at it all again. But basically, I feel good about how I’m racing at the moment.”
The fact that the gap to Norris in the drivers’ standings has now shrunk to nine points does not faze him: “It’s going to be a close battle until the end. But I think we’re doing a lot of things right at the moment. I’ll just try to keep going as I have been.”
