Oscar Piastri scored his first F1 win in Hungary Sunday but not after quite a bit of drama from his team, and behind him.
Piastri started in the front row alongside his McLaren teammate and pole winner Lando Norris. But after lights out and a nervous three-wide duel with the McLaren duo and Max Verstappen. The Australian emerged with the lead.
Later Norris was called in and pitted first during the second round of stops– seemingly to cover off Lewis Hamilton behind, and the Briton cycled to the lead.
With Norris in the lead the team made several calls to Norris telling him to give back the position to Piastri, an order he seemed reluctant to follow for many laps. Finally though on Lap 68 of 70, Norris slowed down and allowed Piastri to pass. The 23-year-old went on to take the win, two seconds ahead of Norris.
“It’s very, very special,” said Piastri. “This is really the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of an F1 podium. Obviously a bit complicated at the end but I put myself in the right position at the start, and thank you to the team for an amazing effort, and amazing car.
“It’s a hell of a lot of fun racing for McLaren, so I can’t thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to be in F1, and to be able to win together 18 months in is an incredible feeling.”
As for the late race order from the team that Norris seemed to ignore:
“The longer you leave it, the more you get a bit nervous,” he said. “But no, it was well-executed by the team and I think it was the right thing; I put myself in the right position at the start and with the different strategy we had – yes, my pace probably wasn’t as quick as I would have liked in my last stint, but I was still in the right position to make it happen, so well-executed from the team.”
For his part Norris took the role of a good team player.
“An amazing day as a team, that is the main thing,” Norris said. “I am so happy. It has been a long journey to achieve this on merit,” Norris said. “Oscar had a good start. (His win) was coming at some point, and he deserved it today.”
When pressed about the team’s order to give up the lead, Norris could only smile and say, “the team asked me to do it so I did it, that’s it.”
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, claimed the final podium position in third for Mercedes, having faced drama of his own after contact with Max Verstappen during a late-race battle that saw Verstappen’s car briefly go airborne.
“I mean, I saw him coming from a long way back and he was able to brake a lot later than me,” Hamilton said. “But he sent it up the inside, I stayed still and he clipped the wheel and went over. So I think a racing incident.”
Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, while Verstappen dropped down to fifth and will also be investigated by the stewards for his incident with Hamilton. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz followed in sixth, ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez who made ground from his P16 starting position.
George Russell also took points after starting back in P17, having crossed the line in P8, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top-10.
Fernando Alonso just missed out in P11 for Aston Martin, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who had a somewhat disappointing day in the RB after lining up in P9 on the grid.
Nico Hulkenberg took 13th place in the Haas, while Alex Albon followed for Williams in 14th and Kevin Magnussen put his Haas into 15th place.
Sauber’s search for points continues as Valtteri Bottas ended the day in P16, with Williams’ Logan Sargeant behind in P17.
Alpine’s tough weekend also endured as Esteban Ocon took P18, while Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu was the final classified runner in P19.
Pierre Gasly became the sole retiree after suffering a suspected hydraulic leak in the Alpine.
FORMULA 1 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 2024 – RACE RESULT
| Pos | Driver | Time/Retired | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:38:01.989 | 25 | |
| 2 | +2.141s | 18 | |
| 3 | +14.880s | 15 | |
| 4 | +19.686s | 12 | |
| 5 | +21.349s | 10 | |
| 6 | +23.073s | 8 | |
| 7 | +39.792s | 6 | |
| 8 | +42.368s | 5 | |
| 9 | +77.259s | 2 | |
| 10 | +77.976s | 1 | |
| 11 | +82.460s | 0 | |
| 12 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 13 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 14 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 15 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 16 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 17 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 18 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 19 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Russell scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.