Hungarian GP 2024: Piastri’s maiden victory, after a “gift” from Norris

Oscar Piastri took his maiden victory in a Grand Prix race in Formula 1, taking the checkered flag first in quite adventurous fashion, as Lando Norris cut his pace noticeably to overtake his teammate. With Norris’ second place, McLaren completed a dream Hungarian GP, ​​taking maximum points, while Lewis Hamilton took the third step of the podium.

The 23-year-old Australian’s first victory came after drama within the team, with his McLaren team-mate belatedly responding to an order to hand the race lead back to the Australian, which he had lost due to the team’s second pit stop strategy.

As the red lights went out, the British team’s two drivers found themselves on the same straight as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull just before the first-turn brakes, with Piastri managing to turn first, leaving Verstappen second and Norris third, who started from pole. However, he moved up a place after two laps as the Dutchman had overtaken him off the track at Turn 1.

From then on, Piastri led much of the Grand Prix easily leading, controlling the pace, while “guarding” the tires from the 2nd lap. However, Norris pitted first during the second round of stops – ostensibly to cover Lewis Hamilton who was further back, and so it was the Briton who took the lead after Piastri’s stop.

This prompted the team to make several calls and hints to Norris to give his place back to his McLaren teammate, an order he seemed reluctant to follow for many laps. However, on lap 68 of 70, Norris slowed and allowed Piastri to pass. The 23-year-old held on to take victory, two seconds ahead of Norris, with the Australian becoming the 7th different driver to take victory in this year’s championship.

For Lewis Hamilton, it was the 200th podium of his career, with the Mercedes driver facing his own drama after contact with Max Verstappen during a battle in the closing laps of the race.

Charles Leclerc finished 4th for Ferrari, while Verstappen dropped to fifth and is currently being investigated by the stewards for his incident with Hamilton. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz followed in 6th, ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez who moved up from 16th on the grid at the start.

George Russell also managed to score points after starting 17th to see the checkered flag eighth, while Aston Martin’s Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

Fernando Alonso missed out on getting into the points, finishing 11th, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who had a disappointing day after lining up 9th on the grid at the start.

Race guide

What a way it was for Oscar Piastri to take his first Grand Prix race win. This will surely be a weekend to remember forever, in a dominant 1-2 for the McLaren team. No wonder the young Australian’s performance is being recognized by the public and he was voted driver of the race.

More specifically, the 23-year-old Piastri collected 34.9% of the votes, followed by Lewis Hamilton (13.9%), Lando Norris (13.8%), Max Verstappen (8.2%), and Charles Leclerc (6.7%).

Fastest lap

The fastest lap of the day was set by George Russell on lap 55, with a time of 1:20.305, and he took the extra point. Logan Sargeant followed with 1:20.561, Max Verstappen with 1:20.908, Sergio Perez with 1:21.096, and Carlos Sainz with 1:21.441.

Next match

Formula 1 moves non-stop to Belgium for the GP at the spectacular Spa-Ffrancorchamps circuit, with the race scheduled for July 26-28.

Results

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