Australian driver Oscar Piastri secured his first Formula One victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with teammate Lando Norris obeying team orders to hand him the lead, resulting in a McLaren 1-2 finish.
The win came after a tense exchange between McLaren and Norris, who initially contested the lead with Piastri before yielding to team directives. Piastri, who started second behind pole-sitter Norris, overtook him at the first turn. Norris briefly regained the lead due to a favorable pit-stop strategy but ultimately complied with orders, allowing Piastri to take the win.
"This is the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of the podium," said Piastri, 23. "It was a bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in a good position from the start."
"I had a lot of trust in Lando, and I think it was a fair decision to swap us back at the end," he added.
Lewis Hamilton finished third behind the McLaren duo, marking his record-extending 200th career podium.
Points leader Max Verstappen finished fifth, behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, and has now gone three races without a victory. Verstappen still leads the standings with 265 points to Norris' 189, but the Dutchman's advantage has dwindled as Red Bull's speed edge has diminished this summer.
McLaren's significant victory will also be remembered for the team debate over which driver would finish on top.
Initially, the team instructed Piastri that the pit strategy aimed to help Norris keep Hamilton at bay while asking Norris to relinquish the position "at his convenience."
As laps passed and Norris didn't budge, McLaren told Piastri he could retake the lead when he caught up with Norris. Eventually, the team pleaded with Norris to let Piastri by.
"I know you will do the right thing," the team told Norris. After a long silence, Norris replied, "Tell him to catch up then, please."
The tension mounted until Norris eased up and allowed Piastri past with two laps to go.
Piastri and Norris exchanged a brief handshake as they removed their helmets and were congratulated by McLaren staff and other drivers.
"I don’t know any driver who, when leading the race, is happy to swap back. That’s not the nature of drivers," McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said. "That’s why we have to recall our principles. In these battles, Lando will need the support of Oscar and the team."
Norris had no harsh words before stepping onto the second spot on the podium, despite coming close to adding to his maiden F1 win in Miami in May and chipping further into Verstappen's advantage in the standings.
"An amazing day as a team, that is the main thing. I am so happy. It has been a long journey to achieve this on merit," Norris said after his 12th career runner-up finish. "Oscar had a good start. (His win) was coming at some point, and he deserved it today."
When asked directly about the decision to cede his lead, Norris said curtly: "The team asked me to do it, so I did it. That’s it."
Piastri, for his part, took a deep breath when asked how he felt trailing Norris for 20 laps before admitting it was an anxious spell.
"The longer you leave it, the more you get a bit nervous, but yeah, I think it was the right thing," he said.
Piastri became the seventh different winner in 13 races this season, which started looking like another cruise for the three-time defending champion Verstappen but has now turned into a fight. Red Bull saw its lead in the constructors' championship reduced to 389-338 over McLaren, after Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez continued to struggle and finished seventh.
Piastri, a champion in F3 and F2 before making the jump to Formula 1 with McLaren last season, secured his first victory in 35 F1 races. He had finished runner-up twice recently, in Monaco and Austria. His previous biggest F1 achievement was winning the sprint race in Qatar in 2023.
Born in April 2001, Piastri became the first F1 winner born in this century.
While McLaren was unchallenged on the track, Hamilton and Verstappen delivered the most thrilling driving at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton had already held off Verstappen during a long stretch before the Dutchman tried again to pass him in the final laps, with third place at stake.
As Verstappen lunged past Hamilton on the inside of a right-hand corner, he locked his front wheels, and his rear clipped Hamilton's Mercedes, sending the Red Bull’s rear airborne before veering off the track. Verstappen rejoined the race but lost a place to Leclerc in the process.
"The close battle we had at the end was a bit hair-raising, but that is racing," Hamilton said.
Carlos Sainz finished sixth in the other Ferrari. Mercedes' George Russell was eighth, behind Perez. Yuki Tsunoda of RB and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll closed out the points positions.
The Hungarian GP marks the start of the second half of the season. Next up is the Belgian GP on July 28.
