You could be forgiven for thinking McLaren had just thrown away another victory, such has been the reaction from some quarters to the way the team handled the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren has made some high-profile errors this season, most recently at Silverstone two weeks ago where the decision to pit only one of its cars as rain started to fall was already bad enough – massively hurting Oscar Piastri’s race – but then opting against using the medium tire that it had saved compared to its rivals at Lando Norris’ final pit stop ended the hopes of both drivers. That was a race McLaren arguably should have won, and potentially could have finished one-two, but it did not have a clear pace advantage that weekend.
At different phases of the race, Mercedes or Max Verstappen could claim to have quicker cars. It was a different situation at the Hungaroring, where McLaren looked to have the edge all weekend and duly cemented it with a front-row lock-out. But as recent races had shown, there were no guarantees that would lead to a victory.
I asked Andrea Stella on Saturday night if a one-two finish in the race would be the only result he would be happy with, and the McLaren team principal insisted not, because if nothing else, you can never count out Verstappen from any race. Plus, track position would be crucial in Budapest, so other cars can severely impact your chances. Fast forward to the start and the three-wide moment that saw Piastri take the lead after getting a better.