Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri urged to 'save it until Sunday' after avoiding catastrophe

It could so easily have turned into McLaren's worst nightmare, and will likely have given team principal Andrea Stella palpitations on the pit wall.

Less than two hours earlier, in the FIA team representatives press conference at the Hungaroring, Stella had been extolling the various virtues of his F1 championship-chasing drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

On track, late in the second practice session for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, those virtues were almost forgotten as Piastri and Norris came within inches of colliding.

Emerging out of the pit lane and on the approach to the sweeping Turn 1 right-hander, Norris was forced to lock up as Piastri aimed for the racing line into the corner.

For a moment, it appeared as if the duo would run into one another, only to narrowly avoid such a fate.

"Oh, that could have been a lot, lot worse there. Lando having to lock up as Oscar swept around the outside," exclaimed Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft, and he was right, too.

"Save it until Sunday, boys, save it until Sunday," remarked former F1 driver and analyst Anthony Davidson, in the hope of seeing the two drives go wheel to wheel in the grand prix. "What was that all about?"

Croft added: "That will be terrific if that is a battle for the lead on Sunday, but Andrea Stella is probably looking at that on the pit wall and going, 'No, no, no, it's only Friday, guys. Come on. Calm down. Calm down."

With Piastri holding a 16-point lead over Norris going into the race, a bit of spice between the two would not go amiss.