Nico Rosberg claims McLaren risks ‘fall-out’ between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after Hungarian GP

The Hungarian GP weekend ended with the 2024 season receiving its seventh different race winner. However, this race win came at a huge cost for McLaren, as the team had to coordinate a driver swap that left a sour taste among fans. While Oscar Piastri won his maiden F1 win, Lando Norris had to give up his position due to the Brit being given a strategic disadvantage, which Nico Rosberg reckoned could generate a fallout between the pair in the future.

F1 has been a sport where team orders have been omnipresent. One such instance was observed at the Hungarian GP when McLaren had to coordinate a dance that troubled both its drivers. Despite Oscar Piastri claiming that he had full trust in his senior teammate doing the right thing, the potential to recreate Red Bull‘s Multi 21 saga seemed a real possibility.

Subsequently, Nico Rosberg lamented the way things panned out at McLaren.

They didn’t do a perfect job there because all this negotiation blah, blah, blah and here and there and change their mind, and the only way to do it there is make a very clear plan, pre-race. 

Nico Rosberg said on Sky Sports F1

Rosberg further went on to add the following.

How do we race each other? What is the team orders? When, where, how, and then you stick to it and clear instructions and that’s the only way to do it. And that’s going to be a learning that they now need to go through very quickly, otherwise, they risk an internal fall-out also between the drivers.

Nico Rosberg via the same interview

The German lashed out at the team for having communication gaps. He then further stated that the race in Hungary is going to be a learning curve for the team as executing team orders should be seamless instead of risking an internal fallout between the duo going forward.

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Oscar Pastri claims he had ‘full trust’ in Lando Norris to give back race lead at Hungarian GP

Lando Norris admits he had to put himself in Oscar Piastri’s shoes

While giving up a potential second-ever F1 win was not easy for Lando Norris, the 24-year-old acted professionally and accepted the team’s request. Moreover, after helping the team secure a 1-2 finish, he was questioned regarding how he felt and what motivated him to concede the position to Piastri.

The former race winner explained the reason behind letting his teammate have the glory.

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.

Lando Norris said in the post-race interview as quoted by F1

Norris elaborated that he had to put himself in Piastri’s shoes. The Aussie had been leading the race ever since the lights went out. The 23-year-old was unquestionalbly going to win over his teammate with a comfortable margin if not for the pitstop sequence. Thus, he understood that his colleague deserved the victory and eventually agreed.

Despite the Brit claiming he was happy for his teammate, he is currently in a championship fight with Max Verstappen. Moreover, losing the race win might end up costing him the championship, which would explain his stubborness during the race.

In case you missed it:

• Charles Leclerc claims Ferrari to continue ‘paying the price’ at tracks like Hungarian GP
• F1 pundit claims Max Verstappen was ‘livid’ with Red Bulls’ ‘ridiculous strategy’ at Hungarian GP

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