McLaren management ‘thrilled’ with brushed-off Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri achievement at the Hungarian GP

Follow us on Google Discover

McLaren earned their seventh one-two finish of the 2025 Formula 1 season with a measured display at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Despite Charles Leclerc’s early lead, their cars remained patient and pounced when the opportunity to get past the Ferrari arose. After that, the McLaren drivers dominated.

Lando Norris’ bold one-stop strategy paid dividends for him, but another lap and he might have been standing one position lower on the podium.

Oscar Piastri was well within attacking distance, and his two-stop approach saw him miss out on a seventh victory of the season by tenths of a second.

All season, Andrea Stella has been telling Norris and Piastri the same thing by informing them of how the team race. So far, they haven’t really had any spectacular battles.

After winning in Budapest, Norris might have overcome a ‘very weak’ issue that had plagued his confidence earlier in the season. He has come on a lot stronger since then.

READ MORE: Oscar Piastri told why his Hungarian Grand Prix strategy was doomed to fail after Lando Norris win

McLaren’s management ‘thrilled’ with how Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battled at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Norris got a telling off from McLaren and was warned not to make mistakes in Hungary. In fairness, any error before the final lap would have seen his teammate take the win.

Zak Brown says Piastri reacted well to finishing second after the race, and knew that there was little else his team could’ve done to help him win on the day.

With 10 races to go in the Formula 1 calendar, expect the fight to begin to ramp up intensity as the Abu Dhabi finale approaches.

Now separated by just nine points, they’re less likely to spare an inch the longer that their battle progresses. For now, though, BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson reports that the team are delighted with how things are playing out.

“Far from being concerned, McLaren’s management were thrilled,” he said.

READ MORE: Martin Brundle explains why Oscar Piastri will be ‘seething’ with McLaren after the Hungarian Grand Prix

Why Lando Norris has the upper hand over Oscar Piastri in F1 title fight

Norris is now competing in his seventh season in Formula 1, while Piastri is in his third. That’s around 100 races’ worth of extra experience that the Briton is able to draw on.

The deeper the fight goes, the more Norris will be able to use that as an advantage. Particularly at non-European tracks that Piastri won’t have visited much.

Piastri missed his ‘best chance’ to overtake Norris because his rival didn’t make a mistake in Hungary. He knew that was the only way past.

And when they return from the summer break in four weeks, it’s likely to be the same case at Zandvoort, which is also a tight and twisty circuit.