F1. Hungary 2024 Review

By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle and Aiden McLaughlin

Driver of the day

Gavin – First time race day winner Oscar Piastri is the clear choice for me. Starting second on the grid he went into the first corner in the lead leaving his team mate to deal with the challenges from Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Some will argue that he does not deserve the win due to the way the race panned out but that was a McLaren team made issue and not an Oscar Piastri made issue – I think the team were over cautious given their debacle last time out at Silverstone and tried to cover a charge by Lewis Hamilton and in doing so chose a pit stop strategy that caused all the angst.

Chelsea – Oscar Piastri. I dithered on this, but that race start trounced everything. He led and led and led, and would have continued to lead had McLaren operated a traditional pit stop strategy. Moreover, his demeanour on the radio was cool as a cucumber, and he dealt with some curly post-race questions with aplomb. He’s only 23 years old. There will be many more victories ahead.

Aiden – When your Mum cancels her 6am pilates lesson in Melbourne to have a few glasses of champagne, you must have done something pretty impressive. Congratulations to Oscar Piastri on his maiden Grand Prix win. In doing so, he becomes the fifth Australian to secure a Formula One victory after Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber, Alan Jones and Jack Brabham. Yes, he has a sprint victory already, but this is the real deal and it’s just the beginning for him. As McLaren team boss Andrea Stella pointed out, “I always say he is the youngest and the wisest member of our team.”

 

Moment of the weekend

Gavin – Every time Max Verstappen had a little hissy fit. And during this race it seemed to be happening on every lap. Being told to hand a place back to Lando and also to stop being childish, Max was getting an earful from his team but the Dutchman continued to whine like jet engine about to fall apart. It reminded me of Lewis Hamilton over the last couple of seasons whilst trying to tame his porpoising Mercedes, though don’t think we have not noticed how quiet he is now that his car is more competitive again.

Chelsea – We sat through what seemed like endless laps of Lando Norris being cajoled by his race engineer to let Oscar Piastri through for his maiden win. It was a bizarre insight into the culture at McLaren, but more importantly, brought the biggest laugh: when Norris finally, reluctantly, slowed down to a crawl and Piastri sailed by, the F1 badge appeared encouraging us to vote for Overtake of the Day. Not quite what I’d consider a classic overtake, but each to their own.

Aiden – So. Many. To. Choose. From. If I employ the butterfly effect, it has to be the first corner of the first lap. With Piastri taking the lead there and keeping it for two thirds of the race, he ensured team orders came into play after the wash-up of both McLaren’s final pit stops. Well, I say they came into play. It wasn’t quite that simple, was it?  Lando Norris was like the kid in the playground that found a football when its owner was in the toilet and then wouldn’t give it back until a minute before the bell went. An honourable mention for Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase who put Year 2 primary school child Maximilian Verstappen in his place by saying “I’m not even going to get into a radio fight with the other teams, Max. We’ll let the stewards do their thing. It’s childish on the radio, childish.”

 

Hot take of the weekend

Gavin – Despite Lando Norris stating that the team orders did not cause him to lose the race and that it was his start that ultimately cost him, I believe he actually lost the race twice on Sunday.

Firstly, as mentioned by Lando himself, by losing the lead by the first corner of the race despite starting on pole – I did hear a statistic saying that in five pole positions he has never led by the first corner!

Secondly, he lost the race again during his refusal to hand the place back to Oscar Piastri. On taking the lead he was 3 seconds ahead of his teammate and that lead was increasing lap by lap while the team were trying to convince him to “do the right thing”. When he finally did give the place back he briefly hounded Oscar before settling for second.

So, why did he not give the place back right away? This would have allowed him to race Oscar for about 10 laps, and Oscar could easily have been forced into a mistake thereby leaving Lando free to take the top step of the podium.

His petulance cost him dearly.

PS. Anyone even notice a similar drama over at Aston Martin when nepo baby Lance Stroll didn’t let Fernando Alonso back past him…

Chelsea – Max Verstappen’s petulant exchanges with his own race engineer drew a lot of attention, harking back to the Verstappen of 2020/2021 – hungry, frustrated, and vaguely entitled. As a relatively new fan of the sport, having been bitten by the bug in 2016, this is the most exciting season I’ve seen. Max’s responses to interview questions (referring to the team as “they” rather than “we”) were telling, and shows that Red Bull are painfully aware that this drop in form is more than a blip.

Aiden – Lando Norris has a chance to win the driver’s championship and McLaren are going to need to prioritise him from now on. It’s all very well that there was an agreement last weekend that was discussed pre-race, but we are over halfway through the season and it’s unlikely their dominance will last for the remaining 11 races. Every point will count for Lando. It seems bizarre to talk like this about someone who has only won one Grand Prix, but he has a real shot and although there’s no I in Team, McLaren can win both titles if they are more ruthless.

 

Cold take of the weekend

Gavin – The McLaren points haul is putting pressure on Red Bull in the Constructors Championship, and also in the driver lineup as it clearly shows that without an all out dominant car Red Bull need both drivers to be scoring well, which this season they have not been. Yes, Sergio Perez ended 7th after starting 16th but he has not been nearly consistent enough to do a job for the team and this is a fact that will not be lost on Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. I just can’t see Sergio in that car after the summer break.

Chelsea – Did you know that Max Verstappen sat up until 0200 hours sim racing the night before the grand prix? If you listened to the Sky feed you did, because Crofty told us about 18 times over. I take as much delight in being judgemental as the next clown, but even I know that circadian rhythms vary from person to person, and if Max wants to hit the start line with a 45 minute nap and a steak and cheese pie behind him, I’m not going to argue. The guy’s a champion, and the weekend’s failings were down to vehicle, not driver.

Aiden – During Ted Kravitz’s post-race Notebook show, Christian Horner emerged from the Red Bull HQ with his distinctive brown satchel and made his way to the exit where a car was waiting for him. In one minute and 28 seconds he posed for seven selfies and signed three autographs and still seemed to have plenty of time on his hands. Siri, show me a sport that has grown as much in the last decade and where the team bosses have such a profile. Yes, Netflix’s Drive to Survive has helped massively, but the sport itself and all the personalities involved deserve huge credit for being so accessible.

 

Bonus Pictures of the Week

Which Piastri had the better celebration?

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