Villeneuve, Brundle & Sainz on McLaren team orders in Hungary

One of the big talking points after Round 13 of the 2024 F1 World Championship at Hungaroring, was the McLaren 'team orders' one-two that turned Oscar Piastri into a first-time Grand Prix winner while denying Lando Norris a second victory.

It was an intriguing radio spell as the McLaren pitwall first asked race leader Norris to allow Paistri through. The Englishman toyed with them and argued his case until they begged. Still, he held out, and then they grovelled. Finally, Lando relented and obeyed.

1997 F1 World Champion, Villeneuve reflected: "Sometimes Oscar Piastri ends up behind Lando Norris because of team strategy, sometimes it's other reasons. I don't think we've seen the best of him yet, and I expect Piastri to produce the same quality driving that Lando does.

"Norris is ahead of him in his driving, so he will be prioritised. The only way Piastri can change that is by beating Lando himself consistently and making the team change their priorities.

"Red Bull would never prioritise Sergio Perez over Max Verstappen, and it should be the same situation at McLaren," insisted Villeneuve, ahead of the weekend in Belgium.

Sky F1 pundit Brundle believes McLaren deserves more credit for the achievement on Sunday: "The fact that we’re still talking about the team orders rather than a glorious one-two for McLaren kind of answers that question.

"You have to remember, that team has come from last early last season to the leader at the moment in terms of pace. "They’ve done it in a certain way and style between the drivers and team.

"All of a sudden instead of switching drivers around for fourth and fifth, it’s for the win. And then it’s for the championship as well perhaps down the road for the drivers. It was a bit of a lumpy moment for the team," added Brundle.

At Spa-Francochamps on Thursday, when asked by reporters for his views on the team orders saga, former McLaren drive Sainz stated: "I personally think you guys are being very tough on McLaren. I think if you see where McLaren were a year and a half ago and where they are right now, it's something to admire.

"Something that only them have achieved with the way that they've developed the car, developed the team and put themselves in a position to even be considering fighting for the championship. Not only in the event of Hungary, might be because they started the season further behind."

"The way that Andrea's handling the team, the way he's handling every situation, how calm everything looks in McLaren, even if you guys are pushing them to fight for bigger things. But I think they are in the right trend and right now they are the strongest team in Formula 1, so hats off to them," trumpeted Sainz.

Whatever the case, after the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren are on 185 Grand Prix victories only bettered by Ferrari on 245 victories in the top flight. Mercedes with 127 are third, Red Bull (127) third and Williams (114) in fourth.

Piastri's win at Hungaroring was their second of the 2024 season, Norris opening his 'account' with his win in Miami. And the first time since 2012 they have won more than one race in a season.

McLaren are P2 in the 2024 F1 World Championship standings, closing in on Red Bull and nipping ahead of Ferrari who dropped down to P3. This means, McLaren Boys versus Max Verstappen (with Sergio Perez AWOL in the other Red Bull) for this year's F1 Constructors' crown and the big bucks that come with it.