Lando Norris claims his Hungarian Grand Prix pace was better in every sense than Oscar Piastri's

The DNF with a broken gearbox was the final nail in the coffin for Piastri's race, but the Australian felt undone when his team pitted him before Norris in the second round of stops, allowing the reigning Formula 1 Champion to stay out and build a gap.

Until that point, the #81 MCL40 was ahead of the one with the #1 on it after Piastri passed Norris on Lap 1, the latter chasing from there on.

Piastri took a swipe at the team over the radio, but McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella insisted all was fair.

Norris added that he had the pace to win regardless; he said: "Seeing what my pace was like, I was just better in every sense, in terms of degradation and pace.

"I was convinced I could still win the race, even after that, whether I would box or force him to box, and I would go long, get fresh tyres, and come back through. So, I was convinced I could win the race today, and we did.

“Of course, it was unfortunate for him and unlucky, because I think we could have had a one-two," Norris said of his teammate's DNF. "But otherwise, just my pace. My pace to stay so close to him for so long.

"We were just on another level today, and I felt in a very good flow of things. When the car’s good and when I’m in a good flow, there’s no stopping.”

While Piastri was unhappy with the team's decisions and his chronic dismay of their infamous Papaya Rules, there may be a chance at some point when Norris will be the aggrieved party.

When asked about that possibility, he responded: “I mean, I just want to win the race, you know?

"There are certain rules we have as a team, and we can’t harm each other’s race by being overly aggressive and wanting to win. But I want to win, and I certainly had much better pace than him. We had a much better chance of winning the race, let’s say.

“So, you know, when I was stuck behind Oscar, Max was three or four seconds behind, and at that point he’s still a threat. Ahead, there’s no threat, and we have a lot more of a guarantee that we’ll win as a team anyway.

"So, I wanted to box and undercut because my pace would have been so good; I could have pulled away a whole pitstop window, I think, on him and boxed again if I needed to. Or I get him to box early.

“I think we were on the fine line between boxing too early and harming both of our races. So, it was just in the best interests of the team, which they rightly have to say back against me.

"But I want to do whatever I can to try and win a race, of course," Norris concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)