Damon Hill sends emotional message to Oscar Piastri after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix

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The Hungarian Grand Prix has been the venue for many great drivers to win their first Formula 1 races.

McLaren star Oscar Piastri added his name to that list on Sunday although he may point to his Sprint Race victory in Qatar as his maiden conquest in F1.

Fernando Alonso in 2003, Jenson Button in 2006 and Heikki Kovalainen in 2008 all took their first Formula 1 wins at the Hungaroring.

Another driver who can add their name to that list is Damon Hill.

Hill won the 1993 event during his first full season in F1 with Williams and went on to be world champion just a few years later.

It’s a career trajectory that Piastri will hope to emulate although he’s still 50 points behind his teammate Lando Norris despite the Brit eventually handing him the lead during the final laps.

Hill posted on his Instagram story after the race to congratulate Piastri and send the 23-year-old a message.

It follows the message Norris sent Piastri after watching his less experienced teammate match his career Grand Prix wins tally.

Piastri may even claim he’s got more wins than Norris thanks to the previously mentioned Sprint Race victory in Qatar.

Norris will be frustrated that a slightly sluggish getaway from the grid has once again cost him victory.

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Damon Hill sends message to Oscar Piastri after Hungarian Grand Prix victory

The start of the race was always going to be crucial and McLaren’s message to their drivers that they would be allowed to race may have been Norris’s downfall.

Instead of covering off Verstappen on the outside of the first corner – even if he did run wide and have to give the place back – he challenged Piastri down the inside and they almost made contact.

Norris ended up running in third for several laps before Verstappen let him by but at that point, he was unlikely to ever catch his teammate.

It was only when Norris undercut Piastri during the final stint that he could show his true pace and he opened up a gap that his teammate simply couldn’t close.

He eventually yielded after laps of strong messages over the team radio from the McLaren team.

Team principal Andrea Stella never looked too uncomfortable about the situation on the pit wall but might have been sweating before the drivers eventually swapped three laps before the end of the race.

Reflecting on Piastri’s first Grand Prix win, Hill said: “You never forget your first Oscar. Welcome to the Hungaroring Club!”

Piastri will now hope he can kick on and go into the summer break with another positive result at Spa.

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McLaren must capitalise on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s advantage over Red Bull

Although the messaging over the team radio at McLaren wasn’t as cordial as Stella would like, they’re still in a much stronger position than Red Bull.

Max Verstappen was furious throughout the race and Sergio Perez was never going to score big points after another crucial mistake in qualifying.

Christian Horner delivered his verdict on Perez after the race and he did a decent job to recover to the points after starting 16^th.

However, McLaren are in a much stronger position with Norris and Piastri matching each other much more closely than the Red Bull drivers.

They’re better placed to work together in races given they regularly qualify closer to each other than the Red Bull pair and that can make deciding on strategies much more straightforward.

All this will change though if Norris closes the gap enough to Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship to give him the chance to overtake the Dutchman before the end of the campaign.