Oscar Piastri’s mum reacts to his ‘painfully reserved’ Hungarian GP celebrations

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Oscar Piastri is a Grand Prix winner after beating McLaren teammate Lando Norris to victory in Hungary on Sunday. But the achievement was somewhat tainted by a team orders controversy.

Norris had started on pole, with Piastri lining up alongside him. This was the team’s first front-row lockout since the 2012 Brazilian GP.

Piastri made the better start, and was able to squeeze past Norris down the inside into turn one. He looked to be in control of proceedings right up until the second pit-stop window.

McLaren made the unusual call of bringing the second car in first. The rationale, they say, was to cover off the threat of an undercut from behind.

But this gave Norris a two-lap tyre advantage over Piastri, and by the time the Australian pitted, he’d lost that much time that he emerged behind. This left the team with a problem.

Norris was their lead driver in the championship, looking to cut into Max Verstappen’s advantage as much as possible while the Dutchman struggled. But Piastri had done enough to merit the race win.

Oscar Piastri is ‘reserved’ by nature, mum says after Hungarian GP win

McLaren decided to restore the cars to their original positions. Outwardly, Norris took plenty of convincing before he slowed down on the pit straight to let Piastri overtake him.

Engineer Will Joseph’s impassioned messages to Norris from the pit wall dominated the headlines, somewhat overshadowing his teammate’s victory. When he crossed the line, Piastri sounded markedly measured in the wake of one of his greatest achievements.

Some may have put this down to the undesirable circumstances. The 23-year-old’s victory was undoubtedly deserved but McLaren had to lend him a helping hand.

Speaking to Australian radio station Nova 100, Piastri’s mother Nicole insisted that he always shows restraint. She had no doubt that he would properly celebrate the win.

“It takes a lot to get Oscar going,” she said. “I’m sure he will [celebrate]. But he’s, by nature, painfully reserved. Not like his mother.”

Martin Brundle made eerily accurate Oscar Piastri prediction

Piastri’s win came just 35 races into his F1 career. While he couldn’t quite reach that milestone quicker than Lewis Hamilton (six) or Verstappen (24), he comfortably beat Daniel Ricciardo (57), Norris (110) and Carlos Sainz (150).

Norris joined McLaren during their slow ascent back through the midfield, whereas Piastri arrived towards the end of that journey. It felt as if the victory was coming.

Indeed, during the British GP weekend, Martin Brundle predicted that a win was ‘just around the corner’. That proved to be eerily accurate.

Damon Hill welcomed Piastri to the Hungaroring ‘club’, having also broken his duck in Budapest back in 1993. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are part of that group too.