What McLaren missed during pre-race Hungarian GP meeting before Oscar Piastri’s maiden win

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McLaren entered the Formula 1 summer break in a stronger position than they would have imagined after the first few races of the 2024 season.

It wasn’t until the Miami Grand Prix and Lando Norris’s maiden F1 win that McLaren emerged as a serious candidate this season.

McLaren are currently on a 10-race run of consecutive podiums but their best performance of the season was at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After locking out the front row of the grid ahead of Max Verstappen’s newly upgraded Red Bull, the pair then led from start to finish.

Oscar Piastri leapfrogged Norris at the start of the race and was leading the way until the final round of pit stops.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

However, a cautious strategy saw Norris come out ahead of Piastri during the last stint and the Australian struggled to catch his teammate to execute the team’s orders to retake the lead of the race.

It led to an awkward exchange between Norris and his race engineer before he eventually handed the place back with a handful of laps to go.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Edd Straw was speaking about the events behind the scenes at McLaren that led to those difficult conversations.

Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph referred to what McLaren talk about on Sunday mornings when pleading with the Brit to hand back the lead of the race to Piastri.

While McLaren did put instructions in place to avoid any difficult situations, they didn’t cover every eventuality.

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

McLaren failed to give key instructions to drivers during Hungarian Grand Prix pre-race meeting

Talking about McLaren’s recent success, Straw said: “They’re getting more comfortable racing at the front definitely, there is a process to go through of getting used to it and experiencing situations that make sure you put in place the right protocols and the right understanding and join everything up.

“That was the big learning for them from Hungary that they hadn’t fully gone through everything in their pre-race discussions and briefings.

“There was the radio message about ‘Remember our Sunday morning’ well there were a few little gaps so I think it’s just tying up all those little loose ends that was the key learning.

“Making sure everyone understands what is and is not the case and also just calibrating how much they complicate things, how much they intervene because it can be very, very easy to overdo things and I think McLaren have done that a few times.

“I think referenced it already once that tyre call with Norris at Silverstone when you had a rival that was forced onto an inferior tyre and then they almost just like panicked into thinking, ‘Oh that might give them an advantage’, no take the right tyre, the one you’ve got!”

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

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris two of Formula 1’s most competitive drivers

McLaren will know that there’s a potential scenario on the horizon that could lead to a tough conversation between their two drivers.

Although Norris handed back the place to Piastri in Hungary, he’s currently Max Verstappen’s closest rival in the Drivers’ Championship.

Zak Brown has shared that he will have a conversation with Norris and Piastri about one driver potentially being given number-one status should the opportunity arise to challenge the Dutch driver during the final few races.

However, Norris has been warned Piastri could usurp him in the future given how quickly the Australian has improved during his short spell in F1.

The pair currently get on very well but the more they’re racing each other for victories and important points in the championship, the more strained that relationship could become.