Last week’s Grand Prix made it obvious that it was McLaren’s playground at the Hungaroring. The papaya army showed off its MCL38s’ sheer speed as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri beat reigning World Champion Max Verstappen. However, everything was not as smooth sailing as it might have appeared for the Woking outfit. The problems started when McLaren made a questionable decision to pit Norris before Piastri even though the Aussie was running at the front of the pack.

When Lando Norris came out of the pits, he got the lead in the race against his teammate. But McLaren tried to cajole Norris to give up his spot to Piastri since the former F2 Champion had led most of the laps at the Hungarian GP. This put the Belgian-British racer in a tough spot where he ultimately chose to listen to team orders and conceded to Oscar. Now, in the week following the Budapest race, interviewers have asked several other racers from different teams what they would have done if they were in Lando’s place.

Being a former McLaren racer, Carlos Sainz is the best candidate to solve the dilemma of whether Lando Norris did the right thing by conceding to Piastri. The Spaniard did not even pay heed to other racers who claimed they might not have been so generous as Norris was. For Sainz, McLaren’s words would have been the Gospel truth. He said, “A team order is a team order, and the team comes first.” Meanwhile, the Woking outfit has received flak from many outlets for grilling Lando and getting him to give up the race win for Piastri.

Addressing those concerns, Carlos Sainz said, “I think there is too much severity towards McLaren. You forget where they were and how much they worked to even be in a position to be able to talk about the championship. McLaren is on the right path and now they are the strongest team in Formula 1.” Going by his take, the Spaniard almost sounded like he is proud of the way his former team has advanced! But there are many other racers on the same grid who do not think like Carlos. So, what did they have to say about McLaren’s Hungarian GP debacle?

Lance Stroll refutes Daniel Ricciardo’s words on Lando doing the right thing

McLaren’s relationship with Daniel Ricciardo is strained at best. The papaya army had prematurely ended their contract with the Honey Badger in 2022 when his performance did not impress the team’s authorities. So, they paid him off and took up Oscar Piastri instead. However, Ricciardo still does not seem to have any bad blood with Zak Brown’s squad. He supported McLaren racer Lando Norris’ decision to leave the topmost spot at the Hungarian GP to Oscar Piastri, saying, “Of course you don’t want to hear it but long term, it’s [Lando’s move] the smart one.”

Meanwhile, Lance Stroll has very opposing views to Ricciardo. The Aston Martin racer said he would find the decision to leave a race win for a teammate to be: “A difficult one.” Even Kevin Magnussen supported the Canadian as he claimed he would have felt tempted to cling to the P1 position despite whatever his team told him to do. The Danish racer put himself in Norris’ shoes and remarked, “Depends on the situation, but it would be tempting to hold onto it.”

Now, McLaren has not been in the position where both their recruits fight for a race win in a long, long time. The last time two papaya drivers had gotten such a brilliant 1-2 finish was when Lewis Hamilton was a part of the team. But its recent display of amazing performances has made fans put McLaren right against Red Bull in the fight for the 2024 Championship. Well, the upcoming races will give a verdict on which team might win this fight. Till then, comment below if you think McLaren did the right thing by asking Lando Norris to give up his Hungarian GP victory.