Lando Norris says he has ‘not felt too proud’ about ‘clouding over’ teammate Oscar Piastri’s first Formula 1 win in Hungary.
McLaren finished 1-2 last weekend at the Hungaroring, with Australian Piastri claiming his maiden victory in the sport – but that wasn’t the headline story.
Piastri had lead much of the race before a bizarre pit-stop call by McLaren allowed Norris to take the lead, only for the team to ask the British driver to give the win up.
He initially refused to do so, arguing over the radio that he needed as many points as possible to catch Max Verstappen in the championship, but with three laps to go he eventually relented.
As a result, the race became incredibly bittersweet for all involved while some have suggested to Norris that he should have defied orders and claimed the prize for himself.
But speaking ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the 24-year-old admitted he was disappointed with his actions on the day, saying: ‘Could it have been handled slightly differently from both a team side and a personal side? Yes, absolutely.
‘Whether people on the outside think and kind of come up with their own stories of what happened, and what I would have done and wouldn’t have done, that kind of thing… I don’t mind that.
‘The things that I could have done, the fact that I kind of clouded over Oscar’s first race win in Formula 1 is something I’ve not felt too proud about.
‘The fact we had a 1-2, and that was barely a headline after the race. That’s the kind of thing I felt worse about.
‘We discussed it, we’ve spoken about it, both sides could have done things a bit better and a little bit differently. It’s almost not good that we had it, but a good moment that we’ve had it, we’ve learned from it, and hopefully it’s done better next time.’
Asked what he would have done differently, Norris who won his first F1 race in Miami earlier this season, said: ‘Just let him [Piastri] past straight away. Such a stupid thing that I didn’t, because we’re free to race.
‘I could have just let him past and still tried to overtake and to race him. Sounds so simple now, but it’s not something that went through my head at the time. I was just in a good rhythm, and things were going well at the time.
‘I questioned it at the time, questioned the team a few times. But I knew from as soon as they boxed me ahead of him, or before him, that I was going to have to let him go. I was a bit silly and didn’t let him go earlier.’
Going into round 14 in Belgium, Norris is 76 points behind Verstappen, with Piastri a further 40 points back, but McLaren have closed the gap to Red Bull to just 51 points as they look to win their first constructors’ title since 1998.
Asked finally if he had shared his regrets with his teammate, Norris added: ‘I think he knows. We spoke straight away and did a lot of our interviews together and things like that.
‘I said I felt bad for what happened and the way his first win went. I hope he knows it in that kind of way and I think he does, so I’m fine with it.’
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