A TYRED OPTION WINS HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX FOR LANDO NORRIS

In 2024 Lando Norris was pitted before Oscar Piastri. That strategy thrust the #4 into the lead and a race winning position before a team order reversed the order for Piastri’s first grand prix victory.

Twelve months on and it was a another pit stop strategy which gave Lando Norris a race winning advantage.

This time there was no swapping places.

It was a rather unexpected victory on a day where Oscar Piastri seemed to have the advantage over his British counterpart up to the chequered flag. That, in no small part was due to the old addage of location, location combined with the thwarting efforts of Charles Leclerc across the first half of the race.

The Ferrari driver had taken a surprise pole position after the two McLarens stumbled in the unpredictable wind gusts during the third stage of qualifiying. Piastri held the second fastest time and Norris third in what was the closest Q3 session in Formula 1 history.

Leclerc then continued that form throughout the first fifty Laps of the race.

The Ferrari driver was incisive from the start of the race; holding a clear lead over Piastri and Norris, who both came under attack from George Russell into Turn 1. Piastri survived, but Norris was pushed aside by both the AMG Mercedes Petronas and then the Aramco Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

Leclerc held the prime location by 1.047 seconds on Lap 2. The enabling of DRS was not immeditately effective with 1 second increments from Piastri to Russell and Alonso. Norris sat two-tenths of a second behind the Aramco Aston Martin, seemingly seeing his chances of victory slip away.

By lap 8 the gap from first to second had extended to 3 seconds, with the Ferrari driver appearing to hold a distinct speed advantage over the previously dominant McLaren.

Piastri’s engineer then floated the idea of a one-stop strategy reporting; “Oscar, some competitors are tallking about a one stop. Do you think a one stop may be possible?”

“I mean, the tyres feel okay for now. I mean it’s difficult to know with this many laps to go,” He replied.

The medium compound tyre had been the popular choice for most drivers but had begun to drop  performance inside the opening twenty laps.

Max Verstappen was the first of the leading group to pit on Lap 18, only to then struggle during the middle stages of the race in traffic.

“Guys, this was really terrible, this idea. I’ve pitted in so much traffic,” he told his team.

Verstappen’s surge back towards the points included a number of decisive passing moves, none more so than a dive inside Lewis Hamilton which brought reports of a post race investigation. Verstappen was perplexed by the decision and was eventually exonerated from any wrongdoing.

Piastri was called into the pitlane on Lap 19, which appeared to confirm a two-stop strategy for the #81. Leclerc followed a lap later to cover a potential undercut. His stop was executed to perfection and he returned to the circuit over 1 second ahead of Piastri.

That moment brought a totally new complexion to the race.

Norris led Alonso by 11 seconds. Leclerc was third, 0.945 seconds from the Aramco Aston Martin. Piastri sat a further 2.3 seconds behind.

Piastri was informed that Leclerc “Might struggle on the out lap with warm up,” though that proved to be little more than a momentary hiccup as the Ferrari sailed past the Aston Martin a lap later.

It was easy going to for Leclerc, but proved a harder task for the McLaren driver behind. Piastri took another lap to ease by, allowing the #16 to pull out a 1.6 second advantage.

By lap 25 Norris maintained an 8 second lead to Leclerc and a further 2.1 seconds to Piastri in third, who was still finding it nigh on impossible to orchestrate a challenge on the Ferrari ahead.

That prompted the Australian to ponder whether track position would be stronger than fresher tyres later in the race, a thought which eventually turned to reality for others.

“Do you think the one stop would work?” Piastri asked the team.

“Difficult, Oscar,” was their reponse at the time. 

Norris’s lead over Leclerc had all but vanished when he finally changed from mediums to hard tyres on Lap 31.

That appeared to put the two-stop strategy back on track for Leclerc and Piastri as the pair sought to establish the buffer needed to cover their second stops.

Norris also pushed his hard tyres to the edges of both adhesion and track limits on his resumption, dropping two wheels into the gravel on Lap 38.

That moment brought a rapid response from the team reminding Lando to; “Just keep the focus, .. don’t want these mistakes.”

It was a poignant reminder of what was required from Norris to maximise the alternate strategy.

Oscar Piastri finally grabbed the race lead when Charles Leclerc took his second pitstop on Lap 41.

The McLaren team told the Australian to optimise the clear air in order to gain the ascendancy over his two main rivals for the win. It was a difficult task given the disparity between his tyres having run 22 laps, nigh on twice as many as Norris’. He was then given the advice to pit in order to reduce the potential deficit to Leclerc.

“I don’t really care about Leclerc, I just want the best chance to try to beat Lando,” Piastri replied.

Piastri completed his final stop on Lap 46, surrendering the lead to Norris.

That placed the Aussie 7 seconds from Leclerc and a further 5 seconds from Norris. Given the earlier encounter with the Ferrari driver, one wondered just where the #81 might finish the race.

The final stint of the grand prix soon started to unravel for Charles Leclerc. The earlier pace, which kept him comfortably ahead of the McLarens, had disappeared. It took less than five racing laps for Piastri to close and pass Leclerc for second place.

Leclerc then slipped out of podium contention as George Russell made a late charge. The Mercedes AMG Petronas driver set the fastest lap of the race in his pursuit of a podium finish, while it was later revealed that Leclerc’s Ferrari had suffered from an unidentified chassis issue.

For Oscar Piastri the final nineteen laps of the the race held a straightforward objective.

With Norris 8.377 seconds ahead, he had to lap around half-a-second quicker per lap than his teammate. He did better than that, reducing Norris’ lead to 2.44 seconds on Lap 62 of the 70 lap journey. It was 0.332 of a second on Lap 68, as Piastri looked to find a way past a similarly qualified driver in very much the same car.

He went close, locking a brake after a late dive to the inside of Turn 1, only to have Norris sweep across his front wing and a non-too-subtle reminder of papaya rules from the pit wall.

Norris hung on to take the win at a track described as being almost Monaco-esque in terms of overtaking opportunities. Piastri finished second and George Russell third.

Leclerc was fourth ahead of Alonso, Bortoletto, Stroll, Lawson, Verstappen and Antonelli. For Lawson the result was more the sweeter having taken the mantle of first Red Bull home

“The perfect result today,” Lando Norris said to McLaren Media.

“ Another 1-2 and I’m really pleased to win the 200th Grand Prix for McLaren. It means a lot to me, and it’s even more rewarding because it was a tough race. We weren’t planning on the one-stop at the beginning, but after the first lap it was the only option to challenge the cars around us”

“It’s always frustrating to miss out on the win by such a small margin, but overall, another great result for the team,” Oscar Piastri reported to McLaren Media.

“It’s easy in hindsight to say the one-stopper would have been quicker, but there was only a second in it, so it’s something we will review as a team. It was an entertaining and fun race all things considered and the team executed well, especially on the pit stops. Now for a well-earned break, thanks to the team for all of their work so far this season.”

So the teams head back to the dressing sheds for oranges at half time. From a Contructor’s perspective McLaren already appear to be home and hosed, while Ferrari might beg to differ given their performance for the first half of the Hungarian race.

On the driver’s championship side, one might have given the points decision to Piastri to date.

Both he and Norris go into the summer break almost even, with less than a podium place between them.

What will the coaches say and who will come out of the sheds firing on all cyclinders?  Will Max Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing find form at his home track?

All will be revealed in a tad over three weeks time…

Photos: McLaren FB

---

SUBSCRIBE TO VELOCITY MAGAZINE 

For all our news keep your eyes peeled on the Velocity Magazine website and social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for our daily updates and to get the latest edition of our glossy magazine subscribe here from just $55 for 12 months subscription.

GET OUR LATEST ISSUE NUMBER 55 HERE

 

 

NAMING RIGHTS SPONSOR