McLaren was subject to widespread criticism for the way they managed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s Hungarian GP. The strategists were mainly subject to this, but Team Principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown, on the other hand, received praise for showing restraint.
On an episode of the F1 Nation Podcast, ESPN journalist Albert Fabrega lauded Stella and Brown for not getting in between the chaotic exchanges with Norris and his race engineer Will Joseph. Fabrega said,
“I loved the fact that neither Andrea nor Zak pushed the button on the radio to make the right call. It happened only with engineers“.
Fabregas believed this restraint showed that both Stella and Brown had faith in the engineers of the team.
LAP 68/70
NORRIS LETS PIASTRI THROUGH! OSCAR PIASTRI LEADS THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX ONCE MORE! #F1 #HungarianGP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2024
The host of the podcast, Tom Clarkson, then gave an example of how Red Bull engineers never got so much freedom back in the day. He brought up the 2013 Malaysian GP, where Christian Horner had to intervene to order Sebastian Vettel to let Mark Webber win the race.
Red Bull encountered a situation similar to what McLaren did in Hungary on Sunday. However, Vettel, despite repeated pleas from everyone – including Horner – did not let his Australian teammate win. Thankfully at McLaren, Joseph was able to convince Norris to do the right thing.
Karun Chandhok has a different claim regarding Brown and Stella
Fabrega praised Stella and Brown for not getting involved in the conversation between Norris and Joseph. But former F1 driver Karun Chandhok felt otherwise. He stated that Joseph should not have been the one relaying team orders, because he was Norris’ right-hand man.
After the race, Chandhok revealed that either Stella or Director Randeep Singh should have made the call. He said,
“He’s Lando’s guy and as a driver, you have to feel like your engineer is on your side and your guy is backing you. That’s so important for you psychologically.”
McLaren avoided controversy because Norris slowed down and let Piastri win. Had the Bristol-born driver not done that, there would be a lot of controversy in the aftermath.
