‘Just a couple of F1 drivers getting burgers’: The post-race meal that put Piastri and Norris back on track
By Chloe Saltau
In an airport in Budapest a couple of Formula 1 drivers sat eating McDonald’s burgers and killing time together as they waited for their flight. The way Oscar Piastri tells it, you wouldn’t have known how hard his McLaren teammate and dining partner Lando Norris had made him sweat before obeying orders to let Piastri through to his maiden grand prix win just a few hours earlier.
“It wasn’t the most glamorous of after-parties,” Piastri said. “Just a couple of F1 drivers getting some burgers.”
The 23-year-old Australian, long ago anointed as a future world champion, said there was no tension between him and Norris. Indeed, the pair played Monopoly with Williams driver Alex Albon on the flight home once their burgers had settled.
Piastri has learnt quickly about the complex dynamic between F1 teammates, who fight to realise their individual ambitions while also chasing team success in the form of the Constructor’s Championship.
He has now been on both sides of “team orders” – he missed out on a podium spot at his home grand prix in Melbourne when the team’s race strategy favoured Norris, for example.
This time, Piastri overtook his pole-sitting teammate on the first corner of the race.
Oscar Piastri (right) scored his first F1 win after teammate Lando Norris was ordered to let him through.Credit: Getty Images
Norris was given preferential treatment for a pit-stop strategy to hold off a rampaging Lewis Hamilton, but the team ultimately rewarded Piastri for his nerveless start. That wasn’t the end of it, though, with Norris eager to remind everyone he was McLaren’s No.1 driver before eventually allowing Piastri to pass.
The Australian insisted he would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.
“First and foremost, I am a McLaren racing driver. I’m not Oscar Piastri racing… That’s always the big picture,” he said on Wednesday morning.
“The team orders go both ways. We’re both very open and very honest about it.
“The first priority at the weekend was to secure the one-two for the team... It doesn’t come without some tough decisions, and there’s emotions behind them. But we both know that at the end of the day we’re racing for the team. I think with the last pit stop if we were genuinely racing each other the strategies would have been very different.”
Norris, who is second in the drivers’ standings, was asked after the race whether the highest-ranked driver should be prioritised, and gave a clipped answer. “We’ll see at the end of the year.”
Piastri would have done what Norris did. “I would have given the position back. I fully understand he’s a racing driver, so am I, and when you’re in the lead of a race it’s not a nice thing to have to let it back through. But we are racing for the team and certain decisions were made on the basis that we’re racing for the team to get the one-two,” he said. “It would have been reciprocated had it been the other way around.”
The Australian, placed fifth, believes McLaren can win the Constructor’s Championship, and was speaking very much as if Red Bull’s rivals believe their outright dominance is over.
‘The fight is well and truly on. I don’t even think we’re really a long shot of winning the championship now. We are a genuine chance.’
Oscar Piastri
“The fight is well and truly on. I don’t even think we’re really a long shot of winning the championship now. We are a genuine chance.”
Piastri’s manager and mentor, nine-time grand prix winner Mark Webber, was not in Hungary to witness his maiden victory, and nor was Piastri’s girlfriend, Lily. Judging by the maturity he displayed in the aftermath and the consistently fast performance of the McLaren cars at contrasting circuits this season, they will have plenty more chances to see him salute.
And what about those predictions that the young man from bayside Melbourne will rise to be a world champion?
“It’s a nice confidence boost, but I think realistically it [the victory] doesn’t change that much for me,” Piastri said. “I’ve still got things I want to improve... If I want to be world champion, which I certainly do, you can’t just settle for being pretty good or doing most things right. You’ve got to do everything right.”
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