Despite Oscar Piastri securing his first F1 victory in Hungary, a bittersweet fog overshadowed McLaren’s 1-2. A botched strategy from the pit wall to protect Lando Norris‘ P2 accidentally handed him the race lead and Piastri just couldn’t retake P1. This was never meant to happen. Eventually, McLaren’s desperate pleas went through and Norris handed the inherited lead back to the man of the moment. But, this wasn’t where he lost the race, according to the Briton.

McLaren‘s strategic blunder was the hot topic in the post-Hungarian GP press conference. Why wouldn’t it be? It hogged the spotlight from F1’s next big thing. However, Norris defended the team’s orders, claiming he “lost the win off the line”. The 24-year-old who started on Pole for only the third time in his career, lost P1 in Lap 1 like the two previous instances – Russia 2021 and Spain 2024. But this time, it wasn’t his fault. “Something happened on my second (gear) shift and I lost all my momentum,” he reasoned post-race.

The Andrea Stella-led team has now confirmed the truth in his argument. Oscar Piastri’s better start off the line was supplemented by a glitch during his teammate’s acceleration. “It wasn’t the smoothest of starts to the race for Lando, though, as he experienced a small glitch finding second gear during his acceleration from pole,” McLaren revealed on their website. “This allowed Verstappen to slipstream alongside to his left, on the outside of the first corner.”

If not for this glitch in a parallel universe, Piastri would still wait for his first victory and so would F1 for its 115th race winner. But the game of ifs and buts can go on. The bottom line is McLaren is right in the mix for a constructors’ championship. Norris knows how Red Bull’s options for extending its lead are thinning, but the 76-point to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship troubles him. Yet, optimism is the name of the game, isn’t it?

Lando Norris’ “big goal” temporarily interfered with McLaren’s team orders

On paper, Max Verstappen has nearly sealed his fourth consecutive world championship. But in Lando Norris’ optimistic head, it’s still up for contention. On the morning of the Hungarian GP, an 84-point gap separated them. But with Red Bull‘s rare strategic mismanagement, the Dutchman lost his podium spot to finish P5. Fury is a small word for the radio messages that defined his race. The gap has now come to 76 points. However, it is unlikely that such a trend will continue.

Though Norris knows this, he can’t help but envision his dream come true!

“You know, if Red Bull and Max make the mistakes like they did today and continue to do that, and as a team we continue to improve and have weekends like we’ve had this weekend, we can turn it around,” the Briton said at the Hungaroring, knowing “it’s still optimistic. It’s still a big goal to say, yeah, we can close 70 points and as a driver, I can close 70 points in half a season,” he added.

With this seemingly unassailable lead to conquer, losing those 7 points by ceding victory to his teammate haunted him. But he repaid the team’s faith and ensured harmony with his teammate. With one race to go before the summer break, the Belgian GP will decide the theme of the second half of the season. But this is where Verstappen is expected to shine even brighter.

The Belgian track, Spa de Francorchamps, is his favorite track to drive on, and the Dutch GP, immediately after the summer break, is his home race. The Orange army will show up in style for their hero, but so will the Papaya army for McLaren’s ascension. With a hypnotizing battle awaiting us, which orange will you wear?