Autobayng News Team
Oscar Piastri said he wouldn’t have been able to pass Lando Norris to win the Hungarian Grand Prix even if the race had lasted longer.
The McLaren drivers were separated by less than seven tenths of a second at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Piastri made two attempts to pass Norris on the inside of turn one and came close to hitting his team mate there on the penultimate lap.
Piastri said he was “confident” to begin with about his chances of passing Norris, whose tyres were 14 laps older than his. “But I knew it was going to be still incredibly tough because getting close to the car ahead is one thing, but trying to overtake is a completely different story.”
However as he struggled to get closer to Norris, Piastri realised he wasn’t going to be able to pass.
“I knew that I was catching him a lot when I had clean air but as soon as I got close it was incredibly tough to stay close enough,” he explained. “There are so many corners in the middle sector that in some cases it almost feels like you do a better job in some corners and then you pay the price at the next one because you’re even closer. That made it very tough.
“With such long corners [at the end of] the lap, it just kills any downforce you’ve got. So I knew that was going to be incredibly tough.
“Even if I had more laps, I’m not sure the result would have been any different. But I certainly tried.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Although he briefly dropped further back from Norris after his dramatic lock-up on the penultimate lap, Piastri said it made little difference to his efforts to pass his team mate.
“I was able to close the gap again pretty quickly for the last lap,” he said. “But like I said, getting to within six or seven tenths was do-able, but to then get even closer than that, I think I needed brand new softs to be able to do much from that point.
“So it was always going to be tough when I got close. But you never want to not take an opportunity that you think is there in case another one never comes up. So I had to go for it.
“In hindsight, obviously you can say maybe I should have waited another lap, but I’m pretty convinced that even if I had waited one more lap, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2025 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Piastri sees no “trend” in Norris’s recent championship gains
- “How’d I lose so much ground?” Full radio from Hamilton’s point-less Hungary slog
- Piastri doubts he would have passed Norris if race had been longer
- 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend F1 driver ratings
- Why Verstappen didn’t get through the midfield the way Red Bull expected: Race data
