McLaren’s Lando Norris has admitted he did not handle the team orders controversy which marred the Hungarian Grand Prix last week well, admitting that he was not proud of himself and that he would behave differently if the situation arose again.
In Budapest Norris ignored orders to allow teammate Oscar Piastri back into the lead after the British driver had gained the place through a team decision to send him into the pits first. He was repeatedly told to concede the place but chose not to for 17 laps, only moving over three laps from the end to allow Piastri through for his debut F1 win.
Speaking before this weekend’s Belgian GP, the 24-year-old confirmed he felt he had not dealt with the situation well.
“It’s the things that I could have done, the fact that I kind of clouded over Oscar’s first race win in F1 is something I’ve not felt too proud about,” he said. “Could it have been handled slightly differently from a team side and from a personal side? Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “I think we would not be having this conversation now in some ways.”
The controversy overshadowed what was an enormously successful weekend for McLaren, who locked out the front row in qualifying and returned their first one-two finish since 2021. The team stood behind their decision to send Norris into the pits first and he admitted that his actions had diminished the impact of how far the team have come in catching and passing Red Bull this season.
“The fact we had a one-two, and that was barely a headline after the race. We had a one-two and nothing was really spoken about it from that side, that’s the bit I felt worse about,” he said.
Norris is attempting to close the gap on the championship leader, Max Verstappen, whom he trails by 76 points, and noted that with a wiser head at the time he would have been better served by immediately conceding the place and then trying to pass Piastri on track.
“I could have just let him pass, still tried to overtake and to race him,” he added. “It sounds so simple now but it’s not something that went through my head at the time.”
Verstappen is expected to incur a 10-place grid penalty at this weekend’s race, when his Red Bull team take a new engine, his fifth this season, one over the four allowed under the regulations.
The world champion was aware he would probably have to take a penalty since the failure of a new power unit in practice at the Canadian GP, his fourth of the season. Red Bull are expected to take the penalty at Spa in an attempt to minimise the championship damage to Verstappen given the ample opportunities at Spa to come back through the field.
In 2022 he came back from 14th to win and last year from sixth to also take the flag. However, with both McLaren and Mercedes far more competitive at this point in the season, he will not be expecting a similar romp back to the front.
Haas confirmed on Thursday that the French driver Esteban Ocon will join the team, to drive alongside Britain’s Oliver Bearman next season. The 27-year-old, who has one F1 win at the Hungarian GP in 2021, is currently with Alpine and will replace Kevin Magnussen in 2025.
