McLaren team orders see Oscar Piastri win Hungarian GP ahead of teammate Lando Norris

A mediocre getaway from pole position at the Hungaroring saw Norris drop behind team-mate Piastri.

But he was handed an apparent lifeline by McLaren when they pulled him in for his second tyre change two laps earlier than his team-mate.

The undercut propelled Norris into the lead, and he held a five-second advantage over Piastri.

However, the Englishman faced a barrage of orders from his race engineer, Will Joseph, to give the place back to Piastri despite his pursuit of Max Verstappen for the world championship.

Norris slowed down on the main straight with three laps remaining to allow Piastri to take the lead.

"You don't need to say anything," he said over the radio. Norris finished one place clear of Lewis Hamilton, with Charles Leclerc fourth and Verstappen fifth.

Hamilton collided with Verstappen on lap 63 of 70 as they duelled for third place with Mercedes accusing the Dutchman of "arriving out of control".

Norris insisted ahead of the 13th round of 24 that he did not need to prove a point after he could, and probably should, have arrived here with four consecutive victories under his belt, but for mistakes by driver and team.

But Norris also admitted he craved a clean start that would have allowed him to control Sunday's 70-lap affair. Unfortunately for him, that failed to materialise.

Norris complained of a failure with his throttle on his drive to the grid and his mechanics scrambled to resolve the problem in the minutes leading up to the race.

Norris was strapped in for the start but when the five lights went out he fell down the order.

He aggressively swooped over to his right to defend from Piastri, allowing Verstappen to assume the racing line unchallenged.

As the trio slammed on the brakes for the first corner, the were line astern with Piastri taking the apex and the lead while Verstappen ran off the track.

He came back on in second place and Norris was frantically on the radio demanding the stewards take action.

The incident was soon under investigation and Verstappen was advised by his Red Bull team to give the place back to Norris, which he duly did on lap four.

Norris and Piastri pitted for new tyres on lap 17 and lap 18 respectively while Verstappen, bemoaning the handling of his machine, was left out on lap 21, demoting him to fourth behind Hamilton.

On lap 35, Verstappen attempted to move back ahead of Hamilton but he ran off the road. "The thing just doesn't f****** turn," Verstappen said. "It is unbelievable."

Norris headed into Sunday's race 84 points behind Verstappen and a win would have allowed him to take a sizeable chunk out of the Dutchman's lead.

He was called in for his second pit stop on lap 45, to cover off Hamilton, while Piastri stopped two laps later. When it all shook out, Norris emerged at the head of the field before he was told to "re-establish the order" by the McLaren pit wall.

At one stage, it looked certain that Norris would ignore the order, before Joseph pleaded with him to trade positions on numerous occasions.

"We know you will do the right thing," said Joseph before he added: "The way to win a world championship is with a team and you are going to need Oscar and you are going to need the team." Joseph added: "You have proved your point."

Norris slowed down on lap 68 with Piastri moving ahead as McLaren landed their first one-two finish in nearly three years.

"The team asked me to do it, so I did it and that is it," Norris said afterwards.

Race results

1    Oscar Piastri    AUS    McLaren F1 Team    70 Laps
2    Lando Norris    GBR    McLaren F1 Team    2.141s
3    Lewis Hamilton    GBR    Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team    14.880s
4    Charles Leclerc    MON    Scuderia Ferrari    19.686s
5    Max Verstappen    NED    Oracle Red Bull Racing    21.349s
6    Carlos Sainz    ESP    Scuderia Ferrari    23.073s
7    Sergio Perez    MEX    Oracle Red Bull Racing    39.792s
8    George Russell    GBR    Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team    42.368s
9    Yuki Tsunoda    JPN    Visa Cash App RB F1 Team    77.259s
10    Lance Stroll    CAN    Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team    77.976s
11    Fernando Alonso    ESP    Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team    82.460s
12    Daniel Ricciardo    AUS    Visa Cash App RB F1 Team    1 Lap
13    Nico Hulkenberg    GER    MoneyGram Haas F1 Team    1 Lap
14    Alex Albon    THA    Williams Racing    1 Lap
15    Kevin Magnussen    DEN    MoneyGram Haas F1 Team    1 Lap
16    Valtteri Bottas    FIN    Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber    1 Lap
17    Logan Sargeant    USA    Williams Racing    1 lap
18    Esteban Ocon    FRA    BWT Alpine F1 Team    1 Lap
19    Zhou Guanyu    CHN    Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber    1 Lap
    Pierre Gasly    FRA    BWT Alpine F1 Team    DNF