Australian takes first career win after McLaren orders teammate; Lewis Hamilton finishes third
Oscar Plates achieved his first victory in the Formula 1 this Sunday at the Hungarian GP. The triumph came only after McLaren ordered his teammate, Lando Norris, to let him pass at the end of the Budapest race. Lewis Hamilton finished third after McLaren’s one-two.
The confusion arose in the second round of pit stops. McLaren gave Norris, who was in second place, the first stop, reversing what normally happens, where the leader gets preferential treatment. Piastri was leading the race and was told that the strategy was to protect Norris from Hamilton who was third and that the situation would be “managed”.
The final solution came only at the end of the race, when Norris took his foot off the accelerator and let his teammate pass him, taking his first victory. Piastri had already taken one victory in a sprint race.
Season leader, three-time champion Max Verstappen, was very aggressive at the start. He came back from third place and managed to pair up with Norris and Piastri, who started on the front row, at the first corner.
With no room for two McLarens and a Red Bull, Verstappen, who was on the outside, went off the track and on the way back passed Norris and got behind Piastri. Norris started on pole, but he did badly. He was worried about his McLaren teammate and opened up space on the straight for Verstappen to move forward. Race direction ordered the Red Bull driver to give his place back to Norris.
The first of the race leaders to pit was Lewis Hamilton, who was in fourth place and stopped on lap 17 of 70. Norris changed tyres one lap after Lewis and Piastri two laps. Verstappen stayed out longer and only stopped in 22nd place.
Verstappen caught up with Hamilton after the first pit stop. The three-time champion gradually took advantage of this and had the chance to overtake the Mercedes driver on lap 36. After an unsuccessful attempt at the end of the start straight, Verstappen managed to overtake, but made a mistake and went off the track. Hamilton retook third place.
On lap 41, Hamilton pitted for the second time. Behind him was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, fifth behind Verstappen. After the second round of pit stops, the positions on the track changed.
Norris took the lead, with Piastri second, followed by Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen. McLaren gave Norris the first pit stop to protect him from Hamilton, who was in third.
After returning to the track in second place, Piastri received a message from McLaren saying that as soon as he reached Norris there would be a change of positions, but the team wanted to avoid Norris losing too much time.
With 15 laps to go, Verstappen approached Leclerc to activate the wing and try to take fourth place. The overtaking took place on lap 57. Verstappen’s next target was Hamilton, who successfully defended the position on lap 62. In the subsequent spin, Hamilton and Verstappen touched. The Red Bull driver went off the track, managed to rejoin, but remained behind Leclerc.
McLaren’s order to Norris to hand the position back to Piastri was only accepted on lap 68, after a lengthy discussion between the team and the driver.
Updated article
Source: Terra
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