In the hours and days since the Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren is facing questions about how it guided Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to the team’s first one-two finish since the Italian Grand Prix of 2021. Much of the attention has been focused on a series of team orders given to Norris late in the race, after the team told him to pit before Piastri, who was leading the race, and Norris took the lead.
However, Norris’ explanation was that he didn’t lose because of team orders, but rather because of a slow start.
“We didn’t lose the win there, we lost the win when we came off the finish line.” He said after the race:“It wasn’t a bad start, I just had a bad start. Something happened on the second shift and I lost momentum. Oscar came up on the inside and that was it.”
The team clarified what happened after the start, indicating that Norris experienced a “glitch” as he attempted to shift into second gear.
In the team’s post-race summary:McLaren noted the glitch: “However, the start of the race was not smooth for Lando as he experienced a small issue finding second gear whilst accelerating from pole position. This allowed Verstappen to slipstream alongside Lando on the left hand side on the outside of the first corner.”
This is the fifth time Norris has started an F1 race from pole position but each time he has lost the lead on the opening lap, including the Spanish Grand Prix a few weeks ago when Norris also appeared to fall behind in the second phase of the start, resulting in a drag race between the McLaren driver and Max Verstappen.
The man who benefited from this drag race? George Russell, who overtook both drivers on the opening lap to take the lead.
Both Norris and Piastri have shown incredible pace in recent weeks and the second phase of the start may now become a focal point as Norris searches for a second Grand Prix win.
