McLaren air concern over 'complex' Oscar Piastri Lando Norris victory bid

Andrea Stella feels McLaren's hopes of a victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix could be made "a bit more complex" if the forecasted weather proves to be accurate.

For the second successive race weekend, a grand prix could be affected by rain, as was the case seven days ago in Belgium, which resulted in a rolling start at Spa-Francorchamps after the opening four laps were conducted behind the safety car.

For the Hungarian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will start from second and third on the grid behind shock polesitter in Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who was the only driver in the top-10 shoot-out to improve from Q2 to Q3 as the direction of the wind dramatically shifted.

Assessing the opportunities for his drivers at the Hungaroring, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Stella said: "In addition to the wind, there may be some rain around.

"So the situation could be quite a bit more complex than simply adapting to the temperature or adapting to the wind.

"From a driving and an engineering point of view, once you understand that the wind has a certain pattern, then you can adapt.

"I think what caught us out a little in Q3 was not only the change of wind direction, but the fact that it was a little unclear what the grip would be in every single corner.

"Both drivers, especially on the second run, approached it with some caution, but once you sort of know what's happening, then I think you can start pushing a bit more.

"You know where to push a little bit less, you know where to push a little bit more because you're going to have a bit of headwind.

"I'm optimistic we will be able to express the pace of the car and the full potential. I'd said [on Friday] that Ferrari was in the game.

"Ferrari seemed to be competitive, but at the same time, we are confident that we will have the pace to fight for the victory."

Norris and Piastri one year on from Hungary last season

The race comes one year on since Norris and Piastri were involved in their first moment of angst as McLaren's driver pairing.

On that occasion, Piastri led from Norris through to the pit-stop phase, at which point the latter pitted first to cover off a chasing Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes.

When Piastri pitted, he emerged a few seconds behind Norris, who had managed to perform the undercut. Norris then repeatedly ignored calls to change position until finally doing so on lap 68 of 70, following which internal conversations took place to address the furore.

Following qualifying, Stella claimed that he felt like that incident was "10 years ago", but one after which much was learned, with the relationship between his drivers considerably improved.

"So much has happened from a racing point of view, in terms of the rate of development of the team, or growth of the team, in a way, and the results that we have been able to achieve since then," he said.

"There's also been a journey that has to do with improving our way of going racing, what we call the racing approach.

"We reviewed extensively one year ago the race here in Hungary, and then we kept this diligent, rigorous approach to reviewing and learning, and we have, as much as possible, formalised everything that we have learned into our racing approach.

"The thing that makes me most proud is that Lando and Oscar have always contributed very genuinely, very honestly, very transparently, bringing their values into the way we go racing. So we have gone a long way.

"We have established a pretty robust platform in terms of how we go racing. We are going to be challenged because racing in Formula 1 is difficult.

"But so far, I'm really proud and happy with the way we've been going racing, and with the way Lando and Oscar have sustained the journey of the team."