'We have certain rules' - Lando Norris vents frustration over McLaren team-mate battle

Lando Norris has explained his frustration after McLaren denied the Formula 1 world champion the chance to undercut team-mate Oscar Piastri ahead of the second round of stops.

Although Norris may have come out on top in the Hungarian Grand Prix, he remained bitter after the chequered flag after his team had denied him the opportunity to dictate the strategy to find a way past his team-mate. 

From an early stage, Norris had been reporting that he had more pace than Piastri and was being held up. Ahead of the second round of pit stops, he asked to pit first in order to try to get the undercut, but was denied. Upon hearing the response, Norris questioned: "You mean you won't let me? I'm miles faster."

The Briton would eventually find his way past in the stops regardless, putting in a series of rapid laps after Piastri pitted, with the Australian crucially hampered by backmarker Carlos Sainz, who collided with the McLaren driver while being lapped.

"I just want to win the race," said Norris. "There are certain rules we have as a team. We can't harm each other's race by being overly aggressive and wanting to win. But I want to win, and I certainly had much, much better pace than him.

"We had a much better chance of winning the race, let's say. So, when I was stuck behind Oscar, Max [Verstappen] was three-four seconds behind, and at that point, he's still a threat. 

"[If I was] ahead, there's no threat, and we have a lot more of a guarantee that we'll win as a team anyway."

The various radio messages played on the world feed highlighted a growing tension between Norris and McLaren across the first two-thirds of the race, but this continued even after Piastri had retired. 

In a tense 2024 race, Norris had been told, "You've proved your point," before pulling aside to allow Piastri the victory. On Sunday this time, he was again reprimanded on the radio, being told, "Lando, you're clearly the fastest car and have nothing to prove. So the snaps in Turn 4 and 8, no more."

Norris explained: "I wanted to box and undercut, because my pace would have been so good I could have pulled away a whole pit stop window, I think, on him and boxed again if I needed to. 

"Or I'd get him to box early, and I think we're on the fine line between boxing too early and harming both of our races. So there was just the best interest for the team, which they rightly have to say back against me, but I want to do whatever I can to try and win a race, of course."