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Martin Brundle feels that Lando Norris was favored in the pits during the 2023 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, and this would leave Oscar Piastri and his manager (former driver) Mark Webber "concerned" about the situation at McLaren.
The team decided to pit Lando Norris first, who had started the race at P3. Meanwhile, his teammate, Piastri was following up with Max Verstappen on P2, since he had a much better start.
When McLaren pitted Norris, he was under threat from Lewis Hamilton. After both stops were done, Norris emerged ahead of his teammate. Many thought that it was done to favor the Briton and get him ahead of his teammate.
Oscar Piastri then finished his race at P4, after losing out to both Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. Martin Brundle feels that Piastri and his manager will be worried about the same, as PlanetF1 quoted him,
"Piastri and his manager Mark Webber will be concerned about that. He was running front (for) McLaren and got the second pit stop. So the undercut there has moved them around. Maybe that’s what McLaren wanted."
While the rookie was out of the podium once more, Lando Norris enjoyed yet another P2 finish. This helped the team gain better in the standings, and are far from Alpine, their only competitor at the moment.
McLaren boss defends Lando Norris' strategy
Andrea Stella had to come forward and defend McLaren's strategy option, explaining how Lando Norris was favored from the stop.
He mentioned that pitting the Briton first was what the team had decided, and a lot depended on what was to happen after that. Norris had an excellent out lap and that is the reason he was ahead of his teammate, according to Stella. It was to apparently save Norris from the threat that Lewis Hamilton had created.
"In terms of the undercut that we had at the first stop, you just go really with the sequence that is natural, because you cover with the car that is more at risk, and then you cover with the other car. Lando’s out-lap was just super, super quick, which meant Oscar lost the position," Stella said (via Motorsport).
Stella added that in situations like these, the team is the first priority and not any other driver. It wouldn't be wrong to say that even though Piastri lost his position, Lando Norris had defended well to bring in another podium for the Papaya Crew.
