{"id":41463,"date":"2025-08-03T23:25:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T23:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/41463\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T23:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T23:25:13","slug":"oscar-piastri-second-to-lando-norris-after-mclaren-strategy-call-reaction-video-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/41463\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri second to Lando Norris after McLaren strategy call, reaction, video, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri heads into the F1 mid-season break stewing on a split strategy call that saw title rival and McLaren teammate Lando Norris trim his lead to just nine points<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Briton finished the Hungarian Grand Prix just 0.698 seconds ahead as they crossed the line to secure the team\u2019s 200th victory in Formula One and record 13th in Hungary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m dead!\u201d said Norris, who had switched to a one-stop strategy \u2014 something of a Hail Mary call after a poor opening lap \u2014 and then battled to resist Piastri\u2019s attacks in the closing laps.<\/p>\n

Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The attacks included a dramatic move at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, that saw Piastri lockup and narrowly avoid rear-ending his teammate. <\/p>\n

\u201cRemember how we go racing. Same reminder, Oscar,\u201d Piastri was told by his pit wall after the near-miss. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Piastri had stayed with his two-stop strategy and had a tyre advantage, but on the tight and technical Hungaroring track found it impossible to pass his teammate.<\/p>\n

Piastri, who was within a second, said: \u201cI pushed as hard as I could. I saw Lando going for a one (stop) so I knew I was going to have to overtake on track, which is easier said then done around here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried a few things, but it was a gamble either way and, unfortunately, we were just on the other side of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

TALKING POINTS: Strategy gamble that burned Piastri explained\u2026 and what it means for title race <\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018HE\u2019LL BE SEETHING\u2019: McLaren call burns Piastri as title blow lands after near-disaster<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018BACKGROUND ISN\u2019T GREAT\u2019: Stunning Hamilton reply ignites Ferrari split talk<\/a><\/p>\n

Piastri & Norris INCHES from colliding! | 00:48<\/p>\n

Piastri questioned his team\u2019s decision to try to \u2018undercut\u2019 pole sitter and early leader Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in the early stages of the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the race, we thought a two-stop was the best thing to do,\u201d Piastri said post-race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn clean air potentially it still was, but\u2026 having a two-stop race in clean air versus dirty air is a different story.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s very easy now to say that a one-stopper was the way to go, but, you know, one second different and the answer would be very different.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah, some things to analyse with the team, but overall I thought it was a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he was surprised Norris was on a one-stop, he said: \u201cYes and no. At that point, he didn\u2019t have much to lose, so it wasn\u2019t a huge surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if trying to undercut Leclerc was the right call in the end. We can go through it after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri also spoke about his all-or-nothing move on the penultimate lap, saying that he felt like it was \u201cgoing to be my best chance\u201d to overtake.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want to try and save it for the next lap, then it never comes, so I thought I would at least try..not quite,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

‘**** turned in on me!’ Russell fumes | 01:43<\/p>\n

For McLaren\u2019s part, team chief Zak Brown said that Piastri was consulted about his own strategy during the race. <\/p>\n

Brown said Piastri was asked if he wanted to race Norris in the closing stages, or Leclerc, and he chose the former. <\/p>\n

Had he chosen the latter, it\u2019s possible he would\u2019ve only stopped once as well, but be forced to defend position late in the race from Leclerc and Mercedes\u2019 George Russell on fresher tyres. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou just had two different strategies there that converged\u2026 Oscar was faster there at the end, just couldn\u2019t get by,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

He added to Sky Sports: \u201cI got to say, you\u2019re never perfect in a race, so we\u2019ll go back, and of course, we\u2019ll go maybe we could\u2019ve done this. But I think it was about as close to perfect as you get.<\/p>\n

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia reacts after the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix race at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, Hungary, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Denes Erdos)Source: AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drivers were awesome. The pit stops amazing. Strategy was great to get Lando up there. Oscar drove brilliantly. I just couldn\u2019t be prouder of this racing team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sky Sports\u2019 Martin Brundle said after the race that it would be a tough pill for Piastri to swallow. <\/p>\n

He said that Piastri will have been demanding answers after the race. <\/p>\n

\u201cOscar will be seething with that,\u201d he said. \u201cRemember the two radio calls. \u2018Pit to undercut Leclerc\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were busy strategising to beat Leclerc. Norris didn\u2019t have that problem as he was out of the picture and came in 13 laps later and changed strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great irony is by not being in that fight with the Ferrari at the front they had more freedom and took it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he still had to deliver that pace for that amount of time on those tyres.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar will be asking why didn\u2019t we do that. Why have we two stopped and been beaten by our teammate who one-stopped?\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris admitted after the race that a one-stop strategy was never the plan but after a poor start, that saw him slide down to fifth, he had to gamble. <\/p>\n

Deflated Lewis says ‘a lot’ is going on | 00:51<\/p>\n

He said that it was \u201ckind of our only option\u201d to get back into the equation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it would probably get us to win. I thought it would get us into second, but I knew if I had some clean air, and I could push, I could maybe make things work and that\u2019s what we did,\u201d Norris said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a bit of a gamble with these things, but it also requires no mistakes, good laps, good strategy — all these things — and that\u2019s what we had today so I\u2019m very happy.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said his win, which moved him within reach of overhauling Piastri when the season resumes after F1\u2019s August break, had been fun, but was not in any way decisive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so tightly fought, it\u2019s hard to say that momentum is on anyone\u2019s side, but we\u2019re fighting hard, both of us, and it\u2019s fun. It\u2019s tough, but fun racing with Oscar.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s great for us as a team, another 1-2 and our 200th win in Formula One. <\/p>\n

\u201cCredit to Oscar, he put up a good charge and I just about held on, so I look forward to many more of these.\u201d <\/p>\n

The outcome was McLaren\u2019s fourth consecutive 1-2 in succession and Norris\u2019s fifth win this year and ninth of his career.<\/p>\n

McLaren now lead Ferrari by 299 points in the constructors\u2019 championship ahead of the final 10 races of the season starting at the Dutch Grand Prix on August 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri heads into the F1 mid-season break stewing on a split strategy call that saw title rival…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2620,64,2347,63,689,33127,13275,36514,36518,11301,2057,817,25621,813,816,3738,36238,3875,36520,939,1737,22298,20588,36517,677,36511,36519,25593,2114,36510,36324,2643,36516,85,36234,36515,36336,36512,36513,36244,36521,9657],"class_list":["post-41463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-au","tag-august","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-budapest","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-clean-air","tag-driver-oscar","tag-eastern-europe","tag-europe","tag-f1","tag-final-stint","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-fox-sports","tag-fresher-tyres","tag-george-russell","tag-hungarian-formula","tag-hungary","tag-lando-norris","tag-martin-brundle","tag-mercedes-benz-ag","tag-mid-season-break-stewing","tag-oceania","tag-one-stop-strategy","tag-opening-lap","tag-penultimate-lap","tag-pit-wall","tag-relishing-combat","tag-season-resumes","tag-sky-sports","tag-split-strategy","tag-sports","tag-strategy-call","tag-team-chief","tag-things-work","tag-tile-race","tag-two-stop-race","tag-two-stop-strategy","tag-tyre-advantage","tag-zak-brown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}