Awesome race and extremely excited for Charles. But man, until Mclaren are mathematically eliminated, Mclaren should be playing ruthless to get points. These mistakes are embarrassing and it's a shame that these exciting wins keep getting sidetracked by Mclaren strategy
With 8 Grand Prix and 3 Sprints to go Lando would need to outscore Max by 7.75 points on average every remaining race weekend. Considering Red Bull's struggles with their car and competitiveness of Mercedes and Ferrari, just a mix of consistent podiums and wins would give Norris a good shot at WDC. Even today he closed the gap by 8 points, and there's still Singapore and Qatar coming up, so I'm expecting a bigger swing in favour of McLaren. It's baffling they aren't using every opportunity to give Norris every possible point right now. I understand not wanting to strip Piastri of his first win in Hungary, but today their unwillingness to issue team orders cost them easy points.
On the other hand, good for Piastri. Unless McLaren takes a clear stance on prioritizing Lando, Oscar has no reason to act like his doormat number 2 driver. It would be hard for him to shake that reputation, and who knows how the WDC fight will look like in 2025.
Zak said in the pre race show that he has “2 number 1 drivers” so that is how they drive.
Now speculation mode on: I think behind the scenes Piastri’s manager Mark Webber is pulling some serious strings so his driver will not be treated as a number 2 driver…or should I say…Multi21 driver. Webber’s been in that situation and he’ll make very sure it ain’t happening under his watch again.