McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has applauded the way Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri handled their intrateam battle in the Hungarian Grand Prix, insisting their wheel-to-wheel contest never crossed the line despite a series of tense radio exchanges.
The Hungaroring delivered McLaren's most intense intra-team fight of the season so far as Norris recovered from an opening-lap mistake to overhaul Piastri, while the Australian's hopes ultimately ended with a late gearbox failure.
Although frustration bubbled over on the radio – particularly from Piastri after a strategy setback and contact with a backmarker – Stella said the pair never lost sight of the bigger picture.
Stella applauds drivers' racing
The McLaren boss revealed Piastri wasted little time addressing his heated radio comments after climbing out of the car, making it clear they were born purely out of the emotion of the moment.
"Let me say that immediately after the race, Oscar clarified that his comment was a comment in anger, and that what happened today, in terms of how the race unfolded, the competition between the two McLaren drivers was all fair, and it was great racing," said Stella.
©McLaren
"So from this point of view, I think we are pretty happy with the racing that we have seen today. The drivers had their opportunities in corner one and two.
"I'm very pleased with the respectful approach that they had to each other, staying away from contact, and ultimately Oscar took the lead because he judged the grip in corner two, and took the lead from Lando. From there, Oscar had his own opportunities of winning the race, leading the race."
Piastri seized the lead after Norris ran wide at Turn 2 on the opening lap and remained in front through the first round of pit stops before the race took a decisive turn.
Strategy swings race Norris' way
McLaren opted to pit Piastri first to protect against the threat posed by Lewis Hamilton, but the strategy unraveled when the Australian clashed with Carlos Sainz while attempting to lap the Williams driver.
Stella explained that the decision itself was driven by race circumstances rather than favouring either driver.
"At some stage, we needed to pit to cover Hamilton because here you can't really afford to give any positional advantage, and then there were a couple of unfortunate episodes," the Italian explained.
"Obviously the most important [factor] is the fact that Oscar had a collision with a back marker. At the time my understanding is that the blue panels were not working, so perhaps today was more difficult than normal for the back markers to appreciate what was happening in the mirrors.
“Carlos is a very fair, very correct driver so I'm sure that that was absolutely unintentional but a bit of a shame for Oscar."
©McLaren
Understandably, Piastri vented his frustration over team radio after seeing the lead slip away, but Stella insisted there were no lingering issues within the team.
"It's absolutely understandable that when you lead the race for almost half, and then you see yourself losing the lead because of an episode with a back marker,” he conceded.
“Then you know you may have a moment and make a comment in anger but there's absolutely no problem from this point of view."
Once Norris inherited clear air, the Briton made full use of McLaren's upgraded package, pulling away with a pace that Stella described as untouchable.
"Once Lando was released, then his pace was simply mega. I think he found kind of half a second per lap. And this pace meant that Lando could pit ahead of Oscar," said Stella.
"So, for me this is just great racing, sophisticated racing in a way. And the good news is that the two McLaren drivers are in contention for a victory or a podium."
For McLaren, Hungary offered more than just Norris' first win of the season. It also provided another demonstration that, even when emotions run high and victories are on the line, the team's two title contenders are capable of racing each other hard while maintaining the mutual respect Stella believes is vital to the squad's success.
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