Andrea Stella has ‘outright’ ruled out McLaren decision that could decide Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris title battle

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Lando Norris came out on top in the McLaren battle at the Hungarian Grand Prix as he claimed his third win in four races.

Charles Leclerc shockingly beat the McLarens for pole position at the Hungaroring, having topped every session before qualifying. Norris did not get off to a strong start in the race, as he lost positions to George Russell and Fernando Alonso while looking to overtake teammate Oscar Piastri.

His difficult start gave the Brit the option to switch over to a one-stop strategy, which he used to his advantage after Leclerc began to lose performance and took the lead. Piastri wanted to race Norris for the win, but McLaren insisted that he should battle the Ferrari and kept him on a two-stop strategy.

The Aussie passed Leclerc and was the faster McLaren in the final stint as he caught Norris with a handful of laps to go. He attempted a move on lap 69, but locked the front and almost crashed into his teammate, leading him to back off and settle for second.

Martin Brundle felt Piastri would be ‘seething’ over McLaren’s strategy call, having been the quicker driver. Zak Brown said Piastri reacted positively as soon as he got out of his car, but it has created further debate about the team’s rules of engagement.

Andrea Stella ‘outright’ rules out McLaren stopping Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris choosing alternate strategies

McLaren have repeatedly made it clear that Norris and Piastri have the freedom to battle on track, as well as the engineers, who are free to suggest different strategies to their drivers.

The outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix has sparked conversation about how they will manage the title battle in the final 10 races. Norris is now nine points behind Piastri with his win, having been slower on track but benefitted from the strategy.

Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm says team principal Andrea Stella has ‘outright’ ruled out the team stopping their drivers from choosing alternate strategies. But McLaren do run the risk of the title being decided by the slower car being able to ‘roll the dice’.

“I’m not necessarily advocating that they should have swapped them back, I think that would have been a much more overt intervention,” he said via The Race.

“But I feel for Piastri and it’s complicated for McLaren, and how they handle it from this point onward is going to be very interesting.

“I have no indication at all from the team that there’s… Stella basically said outright tonight, they’re not going to go to just not letting them pick alternate strategies.

“But we’re at risk of this becoming a championship that does end up being decided by the car that [has] maybe not done the best job and is therefore second on the road, being able to roll the dice in a way that the lead car can’t.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

‘No one’ in the F1 paddock suggests Lando Norris was favoured in Hungary

Mitchell-Malm added that ‘no one’ in the paddock felt that Norris was favoured by McLaren, but rather that circumstances were afforded to him during the race

“They’re more than happy to do that, the engineers have the freedom to suggest things to their drivers. They can react to race circumstances, and we should stress again, it’s circumstances here,” he said.

“No one in the paddock anyway, is suggesting overt McLaren favouritism of Norris. It’s a matter of circumstance.”

The freedom that McLaren are giving with strategies would suggest that Piastri could also benefit if circumstances played into his hands. But in Hungary, Norris was the beneficiary, and it sets up a tight battle for the title after the summer break.

McLaren want the title fight to be won ‘on merit’ and ensure that they give Piastri and Norris the best chance to do so. They are showing no signs of favouritism between the pair.