Piastri hits Wall of Champions
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The Australian
7 hours ago
- The Australian
Oscar Piastri finishes second in the Hungarian Grand Prix
Australia's Oscar Piastri will head into Formula One's annual Summer break with his lead in the world drivers' championship reduced to single figures after he finished a close runner-up to his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Once again, Piastri came off second best after Norris's engineers used a superior race strategy, stopping just once to change tyres while Piastri pitted twice at the Hungaroring circuit on the outskirts of Budapest. With each pit stop taking around 20 seconds, Piastri saw his commanding eight second lead over Norris turned into a 12 second deficit when he put on a second set of hard compound tyres 24 laps from the end of the race. With fresher rubber, Piastri was able to slash the margin to Norris to less than a second with four laps to go but couldn't get past his English teammate on the tight track, despite making a late lunge on the final lap that almost brought the two cars together. In the end, he had to settle for second spot, his 12th podium finish in 14 races this season. 'I pushed as hard as I could. I saw Lando going for a one (stop strategy) so I knew I was going to have to overtake on track, which is easier said than done around here,' Piastri said. 'Tried a few things; it was a gamble either way and unfortunately, we were just on the other side of it. 'The team did a great job, the car really came alive in the second half of the race - and the car has been great all weekend. Looking forward to taking some time off. 'I think I needed to be a couple of tenths closer, and it was going to take a mistake from Lando to achieve that. You never want to try and save it for the next lap and it never comes, so I thought I would at least try, but not quite.' Lando Norris was under pressure from Oscar Piastri in the closing laps Finishing second wasn't all bad news for the 24-year-old Australian because he still leads the championship standings by nine points, with Norris in second spot and looming as his only realistic rival for the crown. Heading into the month-long break with 10 races to go when the season resumes, Piastri's 284 points tally is seven more than Max Verstappen had at the stage last year. The Dutchman only won two of the last 10 races but still managed to win his fourth title in 2024 so Piastri remains in a strong position heading into the back end of the season. 'There's some things to analyse with the team, but overall, I thought it was a good day.' Piastri said. 'We just need to keep doing mostly what we've been doing. 'I think the pace has been very good. My execution of races has been good as well. It's going to be a tight battle all the way to the end.' Despite the time advantage he gained from only taking one stop, Norris was struggling to hold off the fast-finishing Piastri over the close laps because his tyres were degrading quickly so had to drive a great race to win . 'I'm dead, it was tough,' he said. 'We weren't really planning on a one-stop at the beginning but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things. 'It was tough in the final stint with Oscar catching. I was pushing flat out so my voice has gone a little bit. It feels good and rewarding a little more because of that.' Having to nurse his tyres through the last 40 laps, Norris said he believed he'd make it to the chequered flag, which was waved by Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose. 'I didn't think it would probably get us to win, I thought it would get us into second' Norris said. 'I knew if I had some clean air and I could push, I could maybe make things work and that's what we did. 'It's always a bit of a gamble for these kinds of things but it also requires no mistakes, good laps, good strategy, all these things and that's what we had today so I'm very happy.' Oscar nearly got past Lando Norris on the last lap On his world championship battle with his teammate, Norris said: 'We're so tightly fought it's hard to say that momentum is on anyone's side, but we're fighting hard both of us and it's fun, it's tough but fun racing with Oscar.' George Russell finished third for Mercedes to retain fourth place in the championship, albeit 112 points behind Piastri. Verstappen finished ninth, missing the podium for the fourth race in a row, the first time he's done that since 2017. He remains third, 97 points behind the Australian, but says he had no hope of winning the title because the McLarens are just too fast. Saturday's win in Hungary was McLaren's 200th Grand Prix victory all-time, and their seventh one-two finish in 14 races this season. The British team leads the constructors' championship by a mind-boggling 299 points. 'It's great for us as a team and another one-two and our 200th win in Formula 1,' Norris said. 'Credit to Oscar, he put up a good charge and I just about held on, so I look forward to many more of these.'
The Australian
8 hours ago
- The Australian
Oscar Piastri second in qualifying for Hungarian Grand Prix
After dominating every practice session, McLaren were left dumbfounded on Saturday when changing weather conditions left them struggling as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc snatched a stunning late pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Series leader Oscar Piastri and his teammate and title rival Lando Norris had topped every outing on Friday and Saturday morning, but they had no answer when required to improve their pace in the final seconds of a close battle for pole. 'I think the wind changed a lot,' said Piastri, who qualified second on the grid for Sunday's race. 'It always sounds so pathetic, blaming things on the wind, but the wind basically did a 180 from Q1 to Q3, so it just meant a lot of the corners felt completely different. 'My first lap in Q3 felt pretty terrible because I wasn't used to it and then I thought the second lap was better — but it was even slower. 'It's so difficult to judge in those conditions — and maybe not the best execution. I was a bit surprised that we couldn't go quicker than that. Second is still a decent spot to start. We'll see what we can do tomorrow.' Norris, who is 16 points behind Piastri in the championship standings after 13 of this year's 24 races, said he felt the McLaren drivers had been too cautious in the changing conditions. 'I think Charles did a good job on the last lap and he probably risked a bit more in these conditions,' said the British driver. 'The wind changed a lot and it really seemed to punish us in a bigger way it seems. 'I mean not too many complaints. It seems we both thought we did some good laps at the end and we were just slow, nothing to complain of. It's a long lap with many corners and so it's tricky. 'In Q2, we showed how quick we can go and our advantage, but as soon as the wind changed everything went away and the last sector became even trickier.' Norris added that he still held hopes for a good result to make inroads on Piastri's advantage in the title race. 'I want to go forwards and I want to win,' said Norris. 'If I do that then I get points. I think it's going to be an exciting race and I would expect us to have a bit more pace than Charles so I'm looking forward to it.' With just 0.543 seconds separating Leclerc from 10th placed rookie Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls, Saturday's qualifying was one of the closest sessions in Formula One history, bringing Leclerc his first pole in Hungary, his and Ferrari's first of the season and the 27th of his career. He will start Sunday's race with Piastri second and Norris third, ahead of Mercedes' George Russell - the top four were separated by just 0.053 seconds - and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto seventh ahead of Red Bull's four-time champion Max Verstappen and the two Racing Bulls rookies Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Read related topics: Weather
News.com.au
16 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Don't care': Cold Oscar Piastri radio message causes stir
Oscar Piastri's cold radio message during the rollercoaster Hungarian Grand Prix has raised eyebrows. The Aussie was the victim of his McLaren team's strategy gamble to put teammate Lando Norris on an ambitious one-stop strategy after he dropped positions on the opening lap. Piastri was being frustrated while stuck behind Ferrari pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, but appeared to be on his way toward another victory before it emerged that Norris was on the quicker strategy and assumed the race lead when Piastri was forced to pit for a second time. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Norris was forced to hold on in the final laps as the 24-year-old Melburnian nibbled at his rear wing, but on the Hungaroring track, a circuit notoriously difficult to overtake on, the British driver held on for victory. Piastri crossed the line just 0.7 seconds behind his teammate, but all that matters is that Norris has reduced Piastri's championship lead back to nine points. McLaren has done an incredible job in keeping the relationship between Piastri and Norris amicable as they fight for the world championship — but Piastri's radio message to his team during the race shows it is just a matter of time before the gloves come off. As Piastri was preparing for his final stop, he was asked by race engineer Tom Stallard if his intent was to extinguish any glimmer of hope Leclerc had of winning the race — or simply beating his teammate. As recorded by the @radiomessages profile on X, Piastri was asked: 'Leclerc is going to be four or five seconds ahead of our pit window. We suggest to box this lap'. Piastri's blunt response was telling: 'I don't really care about Leclerc. I just want the best chance to try and beat Lando. 'That's the most important thing at the moment.' It wasn't the only radio exchange that showed Piastri was not altogether happy with his team after the race. There was only awkward silence from Piastri after Stallard congratulated him on his drive. 'Well done mate. That was really close, Oscar. Really close. Great racing. Good job,' Stallard said. 'Good stuff. Great racing. We're going to shut down. Still leading both championships. Good first half of the season.' It appears Piastri gave no immediate response. The frosty dynamic has added another layer to Piastri's reputation as a mild-mannered assassin with some fans on X describing him as a 'cyborg' or 'terminator'. Piastri could sense right from the moment he went into the pits the first time that his team may have made a mistake. 'I don't know if trying to undercut Leclerc was the right call in the end but we can go through that after,' Piastri said. F1 guru Martin Brundle said after the race he understood why Piastri would have been frustrated by his team's tactical decisions. 'Oscar will be seething with that,' Brundle said. Remember the two radio calls. Pit to undercut Leclerc. They were busy strategising to beat Leclerc. Norris didn't have that problem as he was out of the picture and came in 13 laps later and changed strategy. 'The great irony is by not being in that fight with the Ferrari at the front they had more freedom and took it. 'But he still had to deliver that pace for that amount of time on those tyres. 'Oscar will be asking why didn't we do that. Why have we two stopped and been beaten by our teammate who one-stopped?' Despite this, Piastri congratulated his teammate after the race, recognising Norris' good defensive driving in the final laps. Piastri conceded his team was making a gamble either way. 'I pushed as hard as I could. I saw Lando going for a one (stop) so I knew I was going to have to overtake on track, which is easier said then done around here,' he said. 'I tried a few things, but it was a gamble either way and, unfortunately, we were just on the other side of it.' Piastri questioned his team's decision to try to 'undercut' pole sitter and early leader Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in the early stages of the race. 'I'm not sure that was the right call in the end,' he said on radio. It wasn't. McLaren boss Zak Brown said everyone in the team will 'sleep well tonight'. Piastri may not feel the same way. The outcome was McLaren's fourth consecutive 1-2 in succession and Norris's fifth win this year and ninth of his career.
