Andrea Stella rejects McLaren favouritism: Fair racing between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Norris converted pole position into McLaren’s first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season, finishing ahead of Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Piastri had looked capable of making it a McLaren one-two after taking the lead from third on the opening lap. However, his race unravelled when traffic delayed him, before a mechanical failure forced him to retire 14 laps from the finish.

Stella rejected any suggestion that McLaren’s strategy had unfairly favoured Norris. He said the decisive difference came from Norris’s speed once the Briton inherited the lead: “I think it was actually great racing. It was great to see Lando and Oscar fighting at the start for the position. 

"Something fair, that’s what our drivers do. Then Oscar had his own chance to take the lead and see what pace he might have had. How the race unfolded meant that with Oscar we went and covered Hamilton and then there was a situation with the backmarkers.

“Lando was very quick once he had the lead and he took advantage of this pace and the fact that there was some delay for Oscar. That’s racing. We are McLaren Racing and today was great racing," added the Italian.

Norris had stayed out longer before making his second tyre change, allowing him to use his pace in clean air and emerge ahead.

Piastri’s hopes were damaged further when he became caught behind Carlos Sainz’s Williams. The delay gave Norris the opening he needed, although Stella stressed that the outcome was not created by team orders, aka Papaya Rules.

Asked whether Piastri would feel aggrieved, Stella replied: “I think Oscar will have already. It’s enough for him to take a look at the race trace, see that Lando gained the time thanks to his pace and to some extent this loss with the backmarkers is just an unlucky situation.

“So it’s racing. It was fair racing. Some of the good racing we saw last year. I have to thank Lando and Oscar once again of being so supportive of the team. We have two great drivers and hopefully we will be contention for these positions over the rest of the season.”

The victory was Norris’s 12th in Formula 1 and his second successive win at the Hungaroring. It also underlined the progress McLaren made with its latest upgrade package. Norris took pole by only 0.012s, but Stella believed the race pace was even more convincing than the qualifying performance.

He told reporters in Hungary: “Great to see the car being competitive for a pole position and being competitive for a victory. Great to see that hard work has been rewarded.

“Lando was in condition to squeeze every single millisecond off the car, which was good enough yesterday for the pole position - which was 12 milliseconds - but today, if anything, the pace was even more encouraging.

“As soon as Lando was in the lead he proved he had a decent margin. So great news there but obviously quite a lot of work to do for reliability," added Stella.

That final warning mattered. McLaren had the speed for a one-two, but Piastri’s retirement exposed a weakness that could prove costly later in the season.

For Stella, Hungary showed McLaren can now fight at the front without controlling its drivers. Norris and Piastri were allowed to race, and the faster man on the decisive phase won. But the World Champions left Budapest knowing the next step is clear: turn race-winning pace into two reliable cars.