Victory still eludes Lando Norris in Hungarian GP. The English driver, after having secured the Pole Position, got off to a bad start at the start of the race and allowed himself to be overtaken by his young teammate. Oscar piastri. There was then tension at the end with the team, which was forced several times to ask him to leave first position to the Australian driver. In the end, another sad second place for Norris.
Hungarian GP: Norris happy with the team's result: "I still believe in the constructors' championship"
Yet another two-sided race for Lando Norris. If on the one hand the English driver saw yet another victory slip away in front of him, on the other the English team finally achieved a satisfying double. Furthermore, with today's race, Norris and Piastri recorded an important statistic: it had been since 2001 that two drivers from the same team had not achieved their first personal victory during the course of the same season. At the time it fell to Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, both Williams drivers. Norris, however, has shown that he is not yet fully ready to fight for the drivers' championship. He still lacks that confidence and tenacity that can lead him to hold on in the tense moments of races. Moments, which often see him emerge defeated.
The show of strength in the last stint of the Hungarian GP was then to no avail. In fact, Norris, advantaged by the strategy, found himself exiting the pits ahead of Oscar Piastri. The team ordered him to relinquish the position at a time that seemed most appropriate. Norris therefore decided to make himself a personal instrument to compensate for the lack of clarity imparted on the pit wall, starting to squeeze his car to the maximum until he distanced Piastri by almost six seconds. There McLaren he sinned today too in his choices of strategies and driver management. In fact, by calling Norris into the pits first at the last pit stop, he created unnecessary tension. The two drivers continued to push themselves and their cars to the limit, risking making mistakes and losing the great result that was ultimately achieved.
A diplomatic Norris in his post-match statements
In the end, Norris wanted to think about the team. He could have forced the situation in his favor, also taking into account the drivers' ranking which no longer sees Verstappen as unreachable, if still far away. Norris has always been at McLaren, who knows if this also influenced his choices and his words. The last one-two for the English team dates back to 2021, when on that occasion too Norris was asked not to attack his then teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Lando obeyed and was satisfied with second place. An important bond between him and McLaren, made up of mutual respect and trust that Norris's words at the end of the race allow us to better understand. “Fantastic day for the team and this is it the main aspect. I am very happy, it has been a very long journey that has led us to achieve this result on merit. It was a great race from everybody".
Not a word about the team order he received: “iThe team asked me to pass it and I did. Enough”. Norris, despite the disappointment of the missed victory, did not miss an opportunity to congratulate his teammate on his first victory in Formula 1.”Oscar started well and then managed to control the race. Sooner or later he would have achieved this victory and he deserved it. I still believe in the constructors' championship. We have great drivers and a fantastic team. The road is still long, but today was our day. SPA can totally change hierarchies, let's see. We will continue to push and try to repeat ourselves".
