Lando Norris told what he ‘should have done’ during McLaren team orders fallout

Lando Norris has been told what he “should have done” during McLaren’s team orders controversy in the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Polesitter Norris found himself slipping behind McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the opening laps of Sunday’s race in Budapest but a decision to pit him first in the final round of stops meant he was able to undercut Piastri and move into the lead.

After a tense back-and-forth over team radio, Norris eventually followed McLaren’s repeated instructions to allow Piastri back past and into the lead with three laps to go.

In his latest post-race column for Sky Sports, Martin Brundle said he believes Norris would have been better off giving the place back earlier, so that he would have had more time to overtake Piastri at the end of the race.

“Comfortably in the lead, Norris became reluctant to make this swap,” Brundle wrote. “He ignored radio calls to slow his pace to protect the tyres and to let Piastri through. Then he began to argue that he was fighting for a championship against Verstappen and so needed the extra points, already being 47 points ahead of Piastri on race morning.

“Lando then suggested if Oscar could catch up, he'd let him through. The team radio calls became ever firmer and more impassioned but stopped short of team principal Andrea Stella having to intervene with a direct instruction.

“One of the core clauses in any F1 contract is that you will follow team instructions at all times, and this is a long-standing problem given that in F1 you are employed and drive as a team, but you race, score points, and are measured as an individual.

“Like Lando I'm conflicted here. I managed a driver, at McLaren funnily enough, who was absolutely duped into handing over a race victory, not that this was the case on Sunday. I've also seen multiple champions who would have won the race and then handled the nuclear fallout afterwards, and who would have been secretly admired for that killer instinct in many quarters. The compliant team player on one of Lando's shoulders won out over the selfish, competitive demon on his other.

“But McLaren has risen to be the team to beat on the grid these past few races because they've had a very strong team ethic and a calm, professional and methodical approach under the increasingly impressive Stella. They have frequently swopped the two drivers around in the past couple of seasons, and as they said to Lando on the radio, you'll need all of us if you want to be champion.

“I wonder what Oscar would have done if the roles had been reversed. His manager Mark Webber was on the receiving end of the infamous Red Bull Multi-21 team orders in Malaysia 2013 when Sebastian Vettel ignored pre-race agreements and in-race instructions.

“What Lando should have done is let Oscar through immediately when requested, and then given himself the maximum opportunity to overtake, if he could, to take victory that way.”

McLaren’s first 1-2 since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix has seen them jump ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship and into second place.

Norris remains second in the drivers’ standings, 76 points behind Max Verstappen, with Piastri a further 40 points adrift in fifth.