McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the timesheets in FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, one year on from the team’s awkward debacle, which made headlines at the 2024 edition of the race.
Lando Norris looked like he was close to disobeying McLaren team orders at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, after the team requested that he swap positions with Oscar Piastri following a round of pit stops that favoured the Brit as opposed to the leading Australian.
The ‘entire’ F1 grid agreed that McLaren were right to hand the win to Piastri, even with Martin Brundle believing they should have kept Norris in front to aid his ongoing championship fight with Max Verstappen at the time.
Norris stated that he came to a ‘quick’ resolution with McLaren in the post-race debrief and was confident that an issue such as the one that played out during the Grand Prix wouldn’t crop up again.
However, McLaren have still suffered from indecisiveness this season, with their failure to act quickly at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix handing the victory to Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris now know they’ve got to ‘play the team game’ in 2025 title fight
Speaking on Sky Sports F1’s coverage of FP1 on Friday afternoon, Brundle was asked about what McLaren had learnt from the events of last season’s Hungarian GP, saying, “I think they’re learning all the time, aren’t they?
“They’ve definitely managed their two drivers well, in that the drivers understand they’ve got to play the team game. They’re allowed to race and they’re allowed to be individuals, but if you don’t play the team game, you just take some pain somewhere else.
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“And I think they’ve got that absolutely spot on. It was a bit unfortunate last year, wasn’t it? They swapped the pit stops around to help one driver out when it compromised the other, but they sorted it out in the end.”
“I could understand Lando being like, I’m just gonna be Michael Schumacher or Sebastian Vettel, they wouldn’t have handed this victory back, even if I shouldn’t have had it.
“So they sorted that out. I mean, Oscar’s won a third of the Grand Prix since that moment, including that moment. So it certainly was a nice ski slope for him.”
Oscar Piastri has been in top form since his win at the Hungaroring in 2024
As mentioned by Brundle, Piastri has been on a fine run of form at the wheel of a McLaren since taking his maiden win in F1 last season. In fact, the Australian has come away from every Grand Prix weekend since the 2024 Miami Grand Prix with points to add to his tally.
The sheer consistency of Piastri is something that Norris is ‘missing’, according to former F1 driver Robert Doornbos. It’s one of the key factors that currently gives Piastri the 16-point championship lead over his British teammate.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 266 2 250 3 185 4 157
Other than the increase in consistency on Piastri’s side, it has been rather neck and neck between the two McLaren drivers in the 2025 teammate head-to-head. The Australian boasts a one-race advantage in the GP results category, whereas Norris holds an extra pole position and fastest lap over Piastri.
Piastri has been warned by Charles Leclerc about not ruling Norris out of championship contention until the very end, with the Monegasque citing Norris’s strengths when he ‘puts things together’.