Nico Rosberg likens McLaren’s radio saga in Hungary to Mercedes team orders with Lewis Hamilton

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McLaren faced an awkward end to the Hungarian Grand Prix when they instructed Lando Norris to let Oscar Piastri through for the win.

The team elected to pit Norris first in the final stint from second place to cover off an impending threat from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the closing stages.

This enabled Lando Norris to emerge ahead of Oscar Piastri due to the powerful undercut, under the premise that he would give the lead back once a gap had formed.

After McLaren engineers reassured Piastri that Norris would give him the win, he was pitted from the lead and emerged behind Norris. The Briton then built up a five-second gap to Piastri, seemingly not following the planned swap before the chequred flag.

What followed was a series of extraordinary team radio messages between Norris and his engineer Will Joseph, whereby the team was pleading with their driver to slow down and orchestrate the swap.

After several laps, Norris eventually let Piastri past with two laps remaining. Likening the scenario to his years battling with Lewis Hamilton for titles at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg shed some light on how team orders are pre-arranged before a race has begun when speaking on Sky Sports.

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

Nico Rosberg likens McLaren saga to Mercedes team orders

Rosberg had his fair share of team orders levelled at Mercedes when fighting Hamilton for titles, with them often being pre-arranged between the two by senior management.

At the 2014 Hungarian GP, Hamilton did not let Rosberg pass after being instructed to by Mercedes.

The team later said Hamilton did the right thing as Rosberg was not close enough and it would have cost both cars too much time, but it was a similar scenario to what played out between both McLaren drivers.

“In my championship year in 2016, I was second in Monaco in the rain and Lewis was third,” said Rosberg.

“The team said I need to let Lewis past and we are fighting for the championship between the two of us, and I did so. But only because, before the race it was crystal clear how we are fighting each other.

“It was clear that if there is a threat for the team to lose a race win, if Ricciardo disappeared into the distance, we must make the fastest of the two team drivers is let through to fight for the win. So I let Lewis past.”

Lando Norris tried to preserve title battle with Max Verstappen

Faced with the prospect of Verstappen finishing outside of the top three, Norris believed there was an opportunity to close the gap even further in the Drivers’ Championship.

By finishing second he lost a potential seven points while Verstappen provisionally finished fifth scoring 10 points, pending the outcome of a stewards investigation over his collision with Hamilton at the end.

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

The exchanges between Norris and his engineer started to get desperate when it began to look clear that he might not let his teammate through, with him opting to do so with a handful of laps left due to the potential for a Safety Car.

Although Piastri won his first race in F1, it has seemingly been overshadowed by the saga which played out over team radio between Norris and his engineer.