Lando Norris reluctantly gave up his almost seven-second lead to let his teammate Oscar Piastri win in Hungary. Even the P2 felt like a loss for the Briton, who only recently secured his first win in Miami. For him, every point matters because his eye is on the biggest prize — the driver’s championship. Despite losing out on the additional seven points, Norris is confident he can overtake Max Verstappen.
Norris is currently 76 points behind championship leader Verstappen in the drivers’ standings. However, with 11 races still to go including the upcoming Belgian GP, the Briton believes he can overturn the deficit and catch Verstappen.
While addressing the media after the race, Norris said, “If Red Bull and Max make the mistakes like they did today and continue to do that, and as a team, we continue to improve and have weekends like we’ve had this weekend, we can turn it around. And it’s still optimistic. It’s still a big goal to say, yeah, we can close 70 points and as a driver, I can close 70 points in half a season.“
“I put myself in his shoes… I had to do what was right”
A bittersweet P2 for Lando Norris after surrendering the win to team mate Oscar Piastri#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/ApwgJoKaG4
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2024
Red Bull’s struggles have continued while McLaren has overtaken them on pace. This is exactly why losing the seven points may have hurt Norris, with regard to his championship hopes.
Although, the record 24-race calendar might play in Norris’ favor as he has plenty of time to catch up. Still, McLaren will have to continue on their upward developmental trajectory to keep Red Bull behind.
Hassling Verstappen regularly and retaining their performance advantage is the only way the Woking outfit can force their rivals to make mistakes, as they did at the 2024 Hungarian GP.
Verstappen is extremely frustrated with the Hungarian GP result as Red Bull’s problems continue
Saying Verstappen was angry with his team during the entire Hungarian Grand Prix would be an understatement. He was constantly on the radio complaining and venting out his frustration.
The Dutchman was unhappy with his strategy because of which he was undercut, besides how bad the car was performing. In fact, after his collision with Lewis Hamilton, his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase instantly said he did not want to get in a radio battle with other teams, adding to his fury.
Verstappen was also furious toward the stewards for opening an investigation against him in the collision. On top of that, the 26-year-old was enraged with his team for not telling him they were not in an ideal space, which led to his angry radio rants.
Verstappen said Hamilton “moved in the braking zone.”
GP: “I’m not even going to get into a radio fight with the other teams, Max. We’ll let the stewards do their thing. It’s childish on the radio, childish.”
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) July 21, 2024
After the race he revealed, “I was just receiving dumb comments on the radio. Instead of trying to talk to me, maybe admitting it wasn’t ideal. That calms me down as well, but then they are also arguing against me. Then that’s truly my last straw”.
The cracks are starting to show in the well-oiled Red Bull machinery. Unlike 2023, the Austrian outfit is under immense pressure and struggling to keep up with the competition. This is an ideal scenario for McLaren because they can capitalize on this situation and maximize their output on the track.
