Why did Lando Norris let Piastre pass at the Hungarian GP?

Lando Norris allowed his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastre to pass him on team orders with three laps remaining in the Hungarian GP.

There were still three rounds to go Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris He had a comfortable lead, six seconds ahead of his teammate McLaren, Oscar PiastreWhen in a straight line Hugaroring He allowed the Australians to cross and gave him the win.

Why this reactionary moment and one that has always been criticized in F1? First, because it is a Group order And Norris had to obey because it was the most reasonable thing to do, but he did it until the last minute, and in fact, it took him 22 rounds to do it.

The explanation for this order had to do with justice and McLaren's handling of the race, except that Norris was reluctant to take back the position he had given to Woking in a 1–2 to protect him.

It all goes to lap 44 of the 75-lap race, and with the new hard tyres, Lewis Hamilton was two seconds faster than the McLaren, which had the same type of tyres, but was 26 laps older.

Although Hamilton was fifth, with Piastre in first and Norris in second, he was 25 seconds behind Landau, meaning that Oscar should have been given priority to enter the pits, as he was the leader of the GP. Lando was probably beaten by Lewis.

The stop in the pits was between 22 and 25 seconds, Lando Norris was on the limit, so they gave him priority, but the thought that he would get over Piastre whose tires were 2.5 seconds slower on the track, I will return when the danger is over.

The plan went well and Lando Norris came out looking like new socks on lap 45 and, as expected, pulled away ahead of Hamilton and behind Piastre, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

On the following lap, Oscar Piastre took the 81 to the pits at the halfway point and took second place, nearly two seconds behind his team-mate who took advantage of an early stop.

But Lando's intent was to distance Hamilton and return Piastre's honor, but that's where the goblin, greed and selfishness, the golem inside all of us, took hold of Norris. What if I win?

Radio messages tried to reassure Oscar Piastre, because in the end his teammates had to do the right thing, but on the other hand messages from team management tried to convince Lando Norris to return to the spot.

It wasn't easy, and on lap 66, the team had to give Lando Norris a stern reminder: if you want to win the championship, you need Oscar and the whole team, so do the right thing.

It's the voice of engineer William Joseph, but it's actually Andrea Stella, a key team member speaking for McLaren.

Finally, at the start of lap 68, down the straight, Norris slowed and reluctantly passed the Australian, but he did.

The problem was that Norris's resistance to complying with the order made the moment even more awkward. Maybe it was playful looking for a double stop, yes, but one driver was too close to the other as Hamilton followed them.

With less than a second and a half difference between Piastre and Norris, a 'double stack' was too risky, the team wanted a 1-2 and this was the way to ensure it.

A driver has to be selfish, winners usually are, so he wanted to show that he can be fast, maybe on the track, without team tactics he could have beaten Oscar Piastre, that's why he was 6 seconds ahead of him, but Piastre didn't push further because he understood not to take risks. It is also true.

In the end, Norris obeyed, let go, or almost had to take the candy out of his mouth, but Oscar gave it to him, so that Piastre won the first F1 Grand Prix of his career, harmony was maintained in the team, and justice reigned… for now.