“I had to put myself in his shoes” — Norris on swapping positions with Piastri in closing stages at F1 Hungarian GP

Photo Credit: McLaren Racing
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Lando Norris looked to be favourite for the Hungarian GP after taking pole position, but he crossed the line in second position as his teammate Oscar Piastri takes his maiden F1 win.

After an undesirable start which saw him lose out to Piastri, he was on the back foot from there.

Norris pitted first on lap 18 to cover Hamilton. He was followed by Piastri a lap later as they retained P1 and P2. The Australian had built a 4-second lead, but a mistake at turn 11 during the middle stint saw Norris close in.

Things started to change as Norris was told to pit first for the second round of pit stops to cover Hamilton off again.

This changed things for Norris as he inherited race the lead once Piastri pitted two laps later. McLaren then told the Miami race winner to re-establish the order by giving back the race lead to his teammate.

The Brit was resistant on letting go of the race win in his hands with Piastri behind by 6 seconds.

After many team orders and discussions on the radio, Norris slowed down to let his teammate past at the beginning of lap 68 for Piastri to claim his maiden win.

Norris spoke about his Hungarian Grand Prix by first congratulating his team for a successful 1-2 and Piastri’s first win.

“[I’m] happy for the team. I don’t know when our last one-two in a race was, but probably over 10 years ago or something.

“Just super happy, I’m happy for Oscar too. I know he won in Qatar [in the Sprint last year], but I think he’ll also say that this win is a lot more than a Sprint win.

“His first proper win, it’s a special moment, so [I’m] happy for him and for the whole team. An incredible weekend for all of us so, yeah, super happy.”

When asked about the team orders, Norris gave a timeline of his thought process at that difficult stage to let his teammate past for the race win.

“It’s tough, but I know what Oscar’s done for me in the past.

“I think this is a little bit different but, yeah, at the same time I got told to let him past and I did. It’s always tough when you’re fighting for a win, and a win means so much to me and also to him.

“Yeah, I just had to try put myself in his shoes and understand it that way.

“Every driver’s selfish and you have to be selfish in this game but, when you’re just thinking of your own benefits, you’re only thinking of the good things. But of course, I put myself in his shoes and I realised I had to do what was right.”