For Oscar Piastri, taking his debut Formula One victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix will be a moment long to savour, yet it was one that for his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, could not have been more painful, secured through the furiously gritted teeth of the British driver who was forced to concede a potential win by playing the team game. Pleasure and pain then in what was an enormously entertaining F1 soap opera in Budapest.
McLaren took a one-two at the Hungaroring in a fascinating examination of the complexities of managing the fiercely competitive urges of drivers, of the needs of the team, of fairness, of whether a sense of comradeship might be engendered between the fierce clashing of egos across a garage. For all the emphasis in F1 on mechanical prowess, what played out was an all too human tale. Who, after all, would find it easy to voluntarily give up such a victory?
