Lando Norris received a ‘telling off’ from McLaren at Hungarian GP, says Martin Brundle

Norris’s superior strategy became evident as the race progressed, putting him at an advantage over Piastri, Leclerc, and Russell. Leclerc contended with his own issues, while Russell was never close enough to pose a significant threat.

Norris was alone on the track before his battle with the Australian, focused on managing his tyres while still delivering strong laps.

Norris made a few errors at the Belgian GP that hurt his chances of catching Piastri. After spotting another mistake in Hungary, his race engineer came over the radio saying: “Lando, just keep the focus. Don’t make those mistakes.”

Martin Brundle picked up on it during commentary for Sky Sports F1 (3/8, 2:56 pm), saying: “Well, that’s a bit of a telling off isn’t it?”

A bit later in the race though, Brundle noted how well Norris was responding:

“Norris’s pace is stunning! Absolutely stunning. And he’s now well within the pit window of Leclerc.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri achieved their fourth consecutive one-two finish

With Max Verstappen picking up two wins this year and George Russell taking the victory in Canada, McLaren can’t replicate Red Bull’s total dominance from 2023.

But even so, Red Bull finished that season with 860 points, and McLaren look on pace to go well beyond that mark.

Unlike Verstappen, who didn’t have consistent backing from Sergio Perez that year, both Norris and Piastri are performing at a very similar level.

Piastri now sees the title fight as a two-driver race, especially after Verstappen’s ninth-place finish in Hungary.

Norris is just nine points behind, a gap that can change in one weekend. Both drivers have been steady all season without any major reliability problems so far.

If mechanical issues end up deciding the title, it would be disappointing but not unprecedented. Championships have been settled by factors outside of driver control before.