Piastri's one small error that set up Hungarian Grand Prix controversy

Oscar Piastri’s first grand prix victory in his second season of F1 wasn’t quite without fault. Just short of half-distance he ran wide out of Turn 11 after a mid-corner snap on hard tyres which were past their best. It lost him more than half of the 4.5sec margin he’d built up over team-mate Lando Norris after slicing down his inside into Turn 1 seconds after the lights went out.

That small error put in place the big controversy of the race as McLaren played safe in protecting Norris from a very distant undercut threat from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes up to the second stops. It brought Norris in first to head off that threat and left Piastri out two laps longer to reduce the tyre advantage the late-stopping Max Verstappen would have in the last stint. But neither were serious threats. It was just McLaren playing safe. But the strong undercut effect around a track with such high tyre degradation put Norris into the lead. This had been expected and Piastri was assured the positions would be reversed again.

But Norris was lapping faster than Piastri on their final set of tyres. Far from giving the place back, he was pulling away and looking like he had every intention of capitalising on the artificial way he’d been gifted the lead. A very tense radio conversation between Norris and the team ensued before Lando eventually acceded to the request and backed off to allow Piastri past with three laps to go.

It gave the race a tension it would otherwise have lacked because this weekend was an all-McLaren affair. Norris and Piastri had locked out the front row and although they were only a half-a-tenth clear of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, it would have been more had Norris not been down to only one new set of soft tyres for Q3.

Verstappen’s car featured a major bodywork upgrade designed to better resolve the conflict of these cars between low and high speeds. It worked, Verstappen reported. Around a track with a big corner speed differential, it was better than the old car would have been. But it wasn’t better enough. The McLaren’s superior balance kept much better control of the rear tyre temperatures – and Verstappen’s qualifying loss was all in the last couple of corners.

Who was at fault? 💭

A closer look at Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s collision 💥 pic.twitter.com/VQq5J7Fk8d

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McLaren’s tyre usage advantage was just exaggerated in the race, with long-duration corners on a surface of over 40C. Verstappen ran an untypically ragged race, running off track after going three-abreast with the McLarens in Turn 1 at the start – and being advised to hand second place back after rejoining ahead of Norris. His day got worse from there as he raged against the relative uncompetitiveness of his car and the team’s strategy. Running harder than the tyres liked, he was undercut by Hamilton at the first stops, then ran off the road trying to repass the Mercedes. After being undercut further by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari at the second stops, he was positively furious. He repassed the Ferrari but went flying after interlocking wheels with Hamilton – allowing Leclerc back ahead. Not a good day at the office as Norris reduced Verstappen’s still big championship lead by 10 points. But worse than that for him is the worrying competitive trend of an ascendent McLaren and Max feeling not enough is being done to combat it.

Norris was very aware that the 10 points he’d just taken off Verstappen could have been 17 points. But as he was reminded over the radio, to win the championship he’s going to need the help of the team and probably the help of Piastri. He lost this one at the start on a day when in hindsight only a McLaren was ever going to win.