Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s final few laps of the 2024 Hungarian GP were tense moments for the McLaren outfit, who pleaded with the former to let the Australian driver pass and get his first F1 win. However, the way McLaren handled the situation, it did not impress many, and Jolyon Palmer spoke about the same in his post-race analysis.
Per Palmer, McLaren decided that they did not want to give priority to Norris’ Drivers’ Championship ambitions because they were unsure if he could win it. On the other hand, with a 1-2 confirmed, the battle for the Constructors’ title was well and truly on.
Budapest ft my new lucky charm pic.twitter.com/UsQDKV4Ly3
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) July 23, 2024
Considering Piastri lost his lead in the Hungarian GP only because of a McLaren error, the Woking-based outfit asked Norris to yield the P1 he had been gifted. However, Norris was not happy about it.
“It was just poor execution in the end. And it opens up more question marks. It leaves a sour taste in Oscar Piastri’s mind”, said Palmer.
Palmer’s claim stems from the fact that despite it being a monumental occasion for Piastri, the talk of the town remains Norris’ attempts to hold on to P1. On the other hand, had McLaren not pitted Norris before Piastri, this situation would never have arisen.
“McLaren should have been more assertive” – Palmer
The former F1 driver insisted that McLaren should have been more firm and direct with its orders. Many, including Nico Rosberg, felt that their asking of Norris to give P1 back to Piastri was too vague. Palmer said,
“They left the situation go for too long. But they really shouldn’t have put themselves in the position in the first place. They should have pitted Piastri, then pitted Norris..”
A McLaren one-two in qualifying yesterday and the same again today in the race. That’s the headline from the #HungarianGP in which Oscar Piastri secured his maiden F1 win, while Lando Norris started from pole and finished behind the Australian. Read the tyre recap here pic.twitter.com/oIKGVi5xn1
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) July 21, 2024
Palmer added that McLaren was not under a lot of pressure from those behind. So, the misery was brought upon them by themselves.
From a team’s perspective, however, the Hungarian GP was a success. They scored the most amount of points out of any team that weekend, and the gap to Red Bull came down to just 51 points. Hence, the battle for the Constructors’ title is truly on after the Hungarian GP.
