Andrea Stella wasn’t ‘keen’ to criticise Oscar Piastri after major Hungarian Grand Prix risk

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Oscar Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ championship has been cut down to nine points after McLaren teammate Lando Norris claimed victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The pair looked like the class of the field on Friday at the Hungaroring, but shockingly, they were beaten to pole position by Charles Leclerc, who secured Ferrari’s first of 2025. Karun Chandhok was stunned that Leclerc beat the McLarens, as he could not grasp their loss of pace in Q3 from Q2.

The Ferrari star led the majority of the Hungarian Grand Prix until he suddenly lost performance. Like Leclerc, Piastri ran with a two-stop strategy and was the leading McLaren until Norris executed a one-stop strategy and took the lead.

The Aussie tried to undercut Leclerc, but Sam Bird saw that strategy was doomed to fail for Piastri as his pit stop was 2.7 seconds, a gap that cannot be made up over one lap. The 24-year-old eventually passed the Ferrari and set about catching Norris in the closing stages.

He did have a chance to take the lead on the penultimate lap, but it could have ended in disaster as Piastri locked up the front and came within millimetres of crashing into Norris. It was not the first time the pair nearly came to blows at the Hungarian GP, as they had a very similar incident in practice.

Andrea Stella wasn’t ‘keen’ to criticise Oscar Piastri for his lunge on Lando Norris at the Hungarian Grand Prix

The Aussie’s race engineer reminded him of McLaren’s rules of engagement after the move. The team have given Piastri and Norris the freedom to fight, but they are keen to avoid a repeat of their crash in Montreal.

Piastri’s lunge was perhaps over what was acceptable, but journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm noted that McLaren boss Andrea Stella had a more relaxed approach. Speaking via The Race, he saw that the team principal wasn’t ‘keen’ to criticise his driver for the risk.

“The move that came close was the move that was the most dramatic, with the big lock-up on the inside,” he said. “That wasn’t on the very last lap, it wasn’t his final chance. But it was the closest he’d been off the final corner.

“He was about six tenths behind off the final corner and he thought: ‘I don’t know if I’m going to get closer than this. There’s half a chance here, I’ve got to take it’.

“It was similar in that regard to Austria, that happened in the first stint. Big lock-up, just about avoided contact.

“Now actually, interestingly there, McLaren lightly admonished Piastri for that and told him it was wrong. There was a bit of a polite reminder over the radio, basically reminding how they go racing.

“But I noticed that, I was in Andrea Stella’s media session and he wasn’t quite as keen to say that Piastri shouldn’t have tried that.”

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How Oscar Piastri actually felt after Lando Norris beat him to victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Piastri felt he missed his ‘best chance’ to pass Norris as he claimed it would have taken a mistake from his teammate to catch him. Ultimately, the Brit worked his one-stop strategy to perfection as he now moves closer to the Aussie heading into the summer break.

Martin Brundle felt Piastri would be ‘seething’ as Norris’ strategy was not made available to him. McLaren felt his race was with Leclerc and aimed to undercut him, thus keeping the 24-year-old out longer in the final stint.

But CEO Zak Brown says Piastri reacted positively as soon as he got out of his car. He wanted to fight Norris for victory, but he understood that the team gave it their ‘best shot’.

Leclerc says Piastri cannot ‘rule out’ Norris winning the title; that is certainly the case after Hungary. With 10 races to go, the McLaren duo are set for an intense battle for the championship.