McLaren grabbed headlines at the 2024 Hungarian GP for all the wrong reasons. The Woking team finished 1-2 but nobody is batting an eye on the result and instead harping about how they achieved it. With team orders helping Oscar Piastri win, Guenther Steiner predicts the worst-case scenario for Lando Norris‘ 2024 season. The former Haas boss fears what might happen if Norris loses the championship by six points or less.
“Lando can win this world championship. I would’ve been thinking, ‘How can I explain to Oscar that he’s not going to win, Lando is going to win because we want him to win the World Championship'”, said Steiner on the Red Flags podcast as he suggested how McLaren should’ve let Norris take the win.
Steiner further explained what the Briton will be thinking,
“Can you imagine now, if at the end of the season they are missing 6 points? Lando will not be, ‘I’m a team player, I’m very happy about this.’ He will be, ‘What the f**k have we done in Budapest'”.
The 2024 Hungarian GP debacle has divided the fans into two different thought processes. Some believe that Norris did the right thing by following team orders and letting Piastri by. Meanwhile, others believe McLaren made a mistake and should have prioritized Norris since he’s in the championship battle.
Drivers have championships by a single point or even half a point [1984] in the past. Fernando Alonso could’ve been a five-time world champion. The Spaniard missed out on three championships by less than a five-point margin. One of these was with McLaren itself when Alonso finished just one point behind Raikkonen in 2007.
The Woking team needs to learn from their mistakes at the Hungarian GP and make sure they don’t repeat them.
Steiner assumes the reason behind McLaren’s team orders
The driver dynamics at a team like Red Bull and McLaren are vastly different. The Red Bull team is built around Max Verstappen and is focused on providing him with the best car for the championship. McLaren has two super competitive drivers challenging each other.
Steiner assumed that McLaren decided to let the driver who leads into turn 1 keep the lead of the race. Since it was their strategic error to not pit the leader first, they felt the need to resolve it by asking Norris to let Piastri by.
The driver dynamic at Red Bull does cost them points in the constructor’s championship. However, it makes sure that Verstappen is unchallenged and hence avoids a dilemma that McLaren faced in Budapest.
In the past, Sergio Perez has followed the team’s orders and helped Verstappen for his championship gain. If the Woking team doesn’t decide upon whom to prioritize between their drivers, the title fight may turn into a Hamilton-Rosberg tussle from 2016, provided Piastri starts to catch up in the standings.
