Lando Norris has admitted to feeling “not too proud” of the lengthy team order conversation he was engaged in at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which saw McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri bag his first win.
McLaren's final pit stops of the race saw Norris serviced first, despite running in second place and behind Piastri at the time.
Piastri pitted two laps later and emerged behind Norris, with the team instructing the latter to let the Australian back through for position.
Norris fought his case for several laps before conceding the position three laps before the end, allowing Piastri to secure his maiden grand prix victory.
Having had a handful of days to reflect on the incident, Norris expressed remorse for how the situation played out.
“Could it have been handled slightly differently from both a team side and from a personal side? Yes, absolutely,” Norris told media including RacingNews365.
“We wouldn't be having this conversation now in some ways. Whether people on the outside think and come up with their own stories of what happened and what I would've done and wouldn't have done, I don't mind about that.
“But it's the things that I could have done, the fact that I clouded over Oscar's race win, his first race win in F1, is something I've not felt too proud about.
“The fact we had a one-two and that was barely a headline after the race, nothing was really spoken about it from that side, that's the bit I felt worst about.
“Apart from that, we've discussed it, we've spoken about it. Both sides could have done things a little bit better and a little bit differently.
“It's almost not good that we had it but it's a good moment that we've had it, we've learned from it, and hopefully it's done better next time.”
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'Stupid' to not concede the position straight away - Norris
The final round of pit stops occurred with over 20 laps remaining in the race, many of which Norris spent engaged in a lengthy debate with race engineer Will Joseph.
When the position swap occurred, there was little time for Norris to engage an attack on his team-mate for the win.
When asked what he would do differently in the same situation, Norris outlined: “Just let him pass straightaway.
“It's such a stupid thing that I didn't, because we're free to race.
“I could just let him pass and still try to overtake and race him. It sounds so simple now, but it's not something that went through my head at the time.
“Such a simple thing like that I could have done but I was just in a good rhythm. Things were going well at the time. I questioned it a few times, questioned the team a few times.
“I knew at the time when they boxed me before him that I was going to have to let him go, I just was a bit silly and didn't think of letting him go earlier.”
Also interesting:
In the latest episode of the RacingNews365 podcast, Ian, Sam and Nick look back at last weekend's Hungarian GP and look ahead to the Belgian GP. Max Verstappen's recent radio rage and Lando Norris almost ignoring McLaren team orders are discussed!
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