Lando Norris, McLaren, Hungaroring, 2025

Hungarian Grand Prix winner Lando Norris wasn’t convinced his switch to a one-stop strategy was going to pay off for much of the race.

The McLaren driver decided against following his team mate Oscar Piastri and race leader Charles Leclerc on a two-stop strategy early. Pitting only once got him the lead of the race but he knew he would come under attack in the closing stages.

Piastri pressed Norris hard over the final laps but was unable to find a way past. Norris therefore claimed his fifth victory of the season.

“I think it’s one of the first ones I’ve won probably in this manner,” he said after the race. “I’ve not won many races, so most circumstances are still new. But I think it’s the first one where doing a completely alternate strategy to most and giving myself that opportunity worked out.”

Norris had to run a 39-lap stint on the hard tyres to pull off the strategy. “It’s a tough strategy to do, but it worked out,” he said.

“Honestly, I didn’t really think it was going to work for the majority of that second stint. But with every lap, I kind of gained more confidence that it was going to be closer and closer. So [it was] definitely a rewarding one.”

The possibility of using a one-stop strategy didn’t come up until Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph suggested it, he said.

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“I think at that point, I was already seven seconds behind Oscar and eight or nine behind Charles. So – not that I thought my race was over – but it was pretty slim that I was going to be able to at least fight from there, even on a perfect two-stop strategy.

“So, my expectations were not high, but I was more banking on a Safety Car or a VSC or something to bring me back into the race. But I didn’t have any of that.”

Norris decided to risk the one-stop strategy when Joseph suggested it. “My confidence wasn’t the highest, but it was my best chance of trying to do something.”

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