Should McLaren pick a 'number one' driver? Is Lando Norris too nice? F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions.
after Lando Norris handed back the race lead to team-mate Oscar Piastri, setting up the Australian's maiden Formula 1 victory.At one point in the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris was six seconds up on Oscar Piastri - which was at least two or three seconds more than the value of the undercut - so wasn't he ahead on merit? - Patrick
Team principal Andrea Stella said that McLaren had determined before the race that they under no circumstances wanted one of their cars to end up behind Hamilton or a Ferrari, because of the difficulty of overtaking. Which Max Verstappen inadvertently demonstrated so effectively. Stella said: "I don't want in a race like today that the responsibility goes to the pit crew. I would rather take the responsibility at the pit wall, secure the one-two and then we manage the situation between the pit wall and the drivers."
In other words, running in clear air, with no turbulence, and therefore no effect on aerodynamics, reduced strain on the tyres, and therefore less overheating was what made one McLaren look faster than another if it was ahead, when in fact their pace was similar. This argument is that, had Norris let Piastri by when he was first asked to do so, rather than debate it for 20 laps, he would have been right behind his team-mate and had a chance to race him to the end.
Some will say he should have let Piastri by sooner. At the other extreme, some will say "to hell with the team, drivers have to think of themselves. He should have hung on and damn the consequences, and take as many points out of Verstappen’s lead as possible."McLaren team principal Stella said: "There is no race driver who would say: 'OK, when are we going to do that?' They always hope they will be P1 and : 'Maybe the team will let me get it.
But I'll let McLaren team principal Stella answer this question for you, seeing as he was asked it after the race. "This may give a lot of material for rumours and media. That's fair enough; that's racing. To be honest, I enjoy this as a spectator or as a fan. But please acknowledge that we just did what was fair today and I want the entire team to realise and hopefully our fans as well."
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