Piastri wins F1 Hungarian GP amid McLaren team orders row

McLaren's Oscar Piastri took his maiden Formula 1 win with victory in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, after teammate Lando Norris was repeatedly ordered to move over and let him by.

Starting second on the grid behind Norris, Piastri had taken the lead at the start and largely looked comfortable at the front, but Norris emerged ahead of the Australian after their final pit stops, after having pitted three laps earlier to cover off the threat from Lewis Hamilton behind.

With teams usually prioritizing their more advanced drivers in pit strategies, Norris was repeatedly asked by his engineers to let Piastri back through, but refused to yield the place until being explicitly ordered to on lap 67 of 70.

Piastri then duly crossed the line to win his maiden Grand Prix, becoming F1's seventh different Grand Prix winner so far in 2024.

"Very, very special. This is really the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of an F1 podium," said Piastri afterwards.

"Obviously, a bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in the right position at the start, and thank you to the team for an amazing effort and an amazing car.

"It's a hell of a lot of fun racing with McLaren. I can't thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to be in F1, and to be winning together 18 months in is an incredible feeling.

"[The team orders were] well executed by the team and I think it was the right thing. I put myself in the right position at the start."

Despite having argued his case to maintain his lead during the race's final stint, Norris took a more conciliatory tone after the chequered flag.

"An amazing day for us as a team, I think that's the main thing. I'm so happy. It's been a long journey. To achieve [a one-two finish] on merit is exactly what we did today. We were a long way clear of the rest, so we did it in style as well.

"Oscar had a good start, he got me off the line and he controlled the race well. He was coming at some point and he deserved it today.

Pressed on whether he thought it was fair for the team to ask him to move over for Piastri, Norris simply replied: "The team asked me to do it, so I did it and that's it."

Behind the top two, Hamilton survived contact with Max Verstappen to finish third for Mercedes and take his 200th career podium finish, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fourth.

Championship leader Verstappen finished fifth, after a race in which he frequently took to the radio to complain about his Red Bull's handling and his team's chosen tyre strategy, which saw him lose a place to Hamilton earlier in the Grand Prix.

An irritated Verstappen also lost a place late on after colliding with Hamilton as he attempted to overtake the Briton, an incident for which the Dutchman may yet receive a penalty.

Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz took sixth, with Sergio Perez salvaging seventh after a disappointing qualifying session in which he crashed, only adding to the speculation that he may soon be replaced at Red Bull.

Hamilton's teammate George Russell finished eighth after a botched strategy call had seen him qualify a lowly 17th, with Yuki Tsunoda taking ninth for RB, and Lance Stroll rounding out the top ten in his Aston Martin.

Despite a difficult weekend, Verstappen still leads the Drivers' Championship with 265 points. Norris closes up in second place with 189 points, with Leclerc third on 162.

In the Constructors' Championship, Red Bull's lead now stands at 389 points, but McLaren have closed up and move into second place with 338 points, with Ferrari third on 322.

The 14th round of the 2024 F1 World Championship, and the last before the sport's four-week summer break, is the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.