One Oscar Piastri radio message in Hungary shows exactly why he has to leave McLaren

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Oscar Piastri had an afternoon to forget at the Hungarian Grand Prix, as his race ended early due to an issue with his gearbox.

Lando Norris winning the Hungarian Grand Prix will certainly satisfy the McLaren faithful, especially after Piastri’s heartbreaking DNF result

Norris had the beating of Piastri the whole weekend, with McLaren even shutting down Piastri’s worry that his MCL40 didn’t receive the floor upgrade that Norris did.

Lando Norris wins his first race of 2026 at the Hungarian GP! Rate that wild race out of 10!

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Piastri’s incident with Lewis Hamilton during qualifying may have inadvertently set the tone for the kind of race he was going to have.

But one radio exchange between Oscar Piastri and McLaren shows that the Australian’s frustration is reaching a boiling point, and he might have to consider leaving the team.

READ MORE: Data proves where McLaren are actually faster than Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri left frustrated after being underserved by McLaren’s strategy

Early on in the race, McLaren were honouring the Papaya Rules when Oscar Piastri was in the lead, allowing the Australian to pit before Lando Norris.

However, later in the race, when McLaren asked Piastri to pit, they did not consider that he would be exiting into traffic with several lapped cars.

This not only kept Piastri from being able to overtake the drivers ahead of him, but it also left him vulnerable to Carlos Sainz, as the Spaniard collided with him and forced him to lose time.

Right after the contact, Piastri went on the radio and blasted McLaren’s race engineers for not keeping his positioning a priority.

“Oh mate, just don’t f—— talk to me now. Nice of you guys to factor that one in, by the way, thanks.”

It was a passive-aggressive message from Piastri, who felt that McLaren didn’t prioritise his pit exit or strategy nearly as much as they did for Norris.

READ MORE: Juan Pablo Montoya advises Oscar Piastri to ‘crash into’ Charles Leclerc after Belgian GP skirmish

Oscar Piastri must consider McLaren exit after seeing his race derailed

Even though McLaren were not intentionally putting Piastri in a negative position compared to Norris at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Australian driver must acknowledge that this isn’t the first time this has happened.

And considering the recent talk of Piastri possibly replacing Max Verstappen at Red Bull, one would imagine that McLaren would be more careful with his strategy.

Piastri previously said he’s happy at McLaren, but it’s time he genuinely considers a move away from the team, as they can’t seem to get things right with him.

Even if McLaren are not making a move for Max Verstappen, it would be in Piastri’s best interest to explore a move away, as the Hungarian Grand Prix was yet another example of him inadvertently playing second-fiddle to Lando Norris.