Marc Priestley shares how Ron Dennis would have dealt with Lando Norris radio situation

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McLaren were faced with a conundrum that every other team would have dreamt of during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After locking out the front row in qualifying, McLaren were cruising to a vital one-two finish in Hungary that was going to put a huge dent in Red Bull’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, despite their advantage over the rest of the field, McLaren implemented an ultra-conservative pit-stop strategy that left them in a difficult position.

The undercut was extremely powerful throughout the race and by pitting Lando Norris before teammate Oscar Piastri during both stints, they ended up swapping the two drivers at the front of the race with just a handful of laps to go.

Norris was in no rush to hand the place back to Piastri and actually increased his lead at the front of the race when driving in clean air, while the young Australian made a couple of small errors.

Jacques Villeneuve admits Norris might have an issue to solve with McLaren following the order to hand the place back despite being the quicker driver in the final stint.

Speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley shared his previous experience with the team in this situation.

Ron Dennis previously led the McLaren team for decades, overseeing 17 titles and 158 Grand Prix wins during his time with the team.

He had a reputation for being ruthless and oversaw a driver swap of his own in 1998 between David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen.

Priestley has shared how Dennis would have dealt with Norris’s disinterest in handing the lead back to Piastri during those final laps.

While Norris did send a message to Piastri after the race, his attitude towards his teammate was very different behind the wheel of his McLaren.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Former McLaren boss Ron Dennis would have acted very differently in Hungary

Talking about the situation over the team radio, Priestley said: “I think the bigger problem is how McLaren have handled this and partly because they’ve tiptoed around the issue and it left it way too open.

“I know Lando did the right thing in the end or did what the team wanted him to do, but it took a lot of laps and a lot of quite awkward discussion that played out publicly for that to happen.

“The team will figure this out, they haven’t been in this position.

“I’ve been at McLaren under a very different leadership regime of Ron Dennis, I can tell you would not have happened under Ron Dennis because your race engineer is the guy who talks to the drivers all the time until it gets serious and Ron steps in.

“It happened with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso when they were arguing against each other in a similar sort of way in Monaco only until the point where Ron got on the radio.

“It was such a rare occasion but when Ron steps in you know stuff’s got real, stuff’s got serious and the argument stops.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri must capitalise on having the fastest car in F1

Andrea Stella decided not to get involved on the team radio during the race and admitted afterwards that he always knew Norris would eventually let Piastri through.

It’s an easy thing to say in hindsight but potentially not the same decision Dennis would have made in the context of both championships.

Norris looks like the only driver who can catch Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship and the seven points he gave up could end up being crucial.

He and Piastri have a quicker car over one lap and the course of a race than Red Bull and the update that Christian Horner’s team brought didn’t appear to make a huge amount of difference.

Based on Red Bull’s track record that will change sooner rather than later, meaning Norris and Piastri must make the most of this narrow advantage.

While it may not be enough to win Norris an individual title, they’re more than fast enough to take the lead in the Constructors’ Championship with Sergio Perez continuing to struggle.