All-out McLaren 'WAR' and 'whinging' Verstappen - GPFans Hungarian GP Hot Takes

The latest round of the 2024 Formula 1 season provided yet another different winner, and this time a first-time grand prix winner.

Oscar Piastri claimed Hungarian Grand Prix victory from his team-mate Lando Norris, but not after a calamitous strategy from McLaren gave their star driver a huge moral dilemma.

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Having allowed Norris to undercut Piastri in order to protect the team one-two, Norris was asked time and time again by his team to give the position back to Piastri before the end of the race.

Eventually, Norris did, but not until three laps before the end. Elsewhere, a hugely frustrated Max Verstappen could only bring his Red Bull home in fifth, while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top three with his 200th career podium.

Here's what the GPFans' team thought of the stunning action at the Hungaroring.

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GPFans Journalists on the Hungarian GP

Dan Ripley - Deputy Chief Editor

The start of the McLaren civil war? You sensed it was coming the moment Lando Norris emerged in front of Oscar Piastri after the final round of pit stops.

Norris dominated from that point and you could argue was heading for a deserved victory. Yet, with Piastri having been told the situation was going to be managed, you could feel the pain of Norris as he had to grit his teeth in letting Piastri past late on.

It may have looked all calm and smiley faces after the race, but Norris will want severe payback after this - especially if he ends up losing this championship by only a few points...

As for Max Verstappen, he may have a point that his strategy was weak but it really is time he grew up a bit with his eccentric radio rants. He lost his temper, a podium and, perhaps, a race win after his senseless dive into turn one on Lewis Hamilton.

Ronan Murphy - Social Media Editor

Maybe it’s time for Max Verstappen to become a full-time F1 driver again. This focus on sim racing is definitely starting to be a distraction. It is no surprise that he was tired and cranky in the Red Bull when he spent much of the weekend burning the candle at both ends in order to race in virtual car as well.

iRacing’s gain is also Formula 1’s gain, because the World Championship has come to life - for both the drivers and the constructors. Oscar Piastri is the seventh different race winner this season and the fifth driver to get his hands on a P1 trophy in the past six races.

Formula 1 is BACK BABY. So maybe if Max is reading this, he can ignore my first sentence. Stick to the sim racing. Do even more of it. Better a sleepy Max than a sleepy race!

Chris Deeley - US Editor

Max Verstappen is back. Sorry, let’s rephrase that. Erratic, whinging, tantrum-throwing Max Verstappen is back - and all it took was no longer having by far the best car on the grid.

The complaint about the first corner incident, and the bitching about his car not doing what he wanted, those never really went away. But when the repeated foul-mouthed ranting at Gianpiero Lambiase and the rest of the Red Bull strategy team came in, that raised some eyebrows right up into the hairline.

An absolutely desperate lunge down the inside of Lewis Hamilton, when he had fresher tyres and plenty of laps left to work his way past and onto the podium, was the reckless Verstappen of the early years. That it went horribly wrong was no surprise. It was a bad, reckless move that he didn’t need to make – and he was straight on the radio to abdicate responsibility. GP called him childish over the airwaves, and he was absolutely right. The serene, supreme Verstappen of the last two years has cracked, and the petulant child is back. This should be…fun?

Oh yeah, and McLaren might’ve claimed the most damaging 1-2 finish in modern F1 history, probably only topped by Villeneuve/Pironi at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix. That’s a team with some major cracks.

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Sam Cook - F1 Journalist

What a race, what a season! We have now had seven different race winners in the opening 13 races of this season, including first-time winners Lando Norris and now, Oscar Piastri!

McLaren are absolutely flying, and are seemingly putting themselves into a chance of winning the constructors' championship, despite almost self imploding with a ridiculous strategy.

While Norris was right to give Piastri his winning position back, by pitting Norris first and allowing him to get clear air at the front, McLaren were asking to get bitten by an adrenaline-charged driver desperate for a race victory.

Asking a racing driver to slow down and hand their first place position to a rival is nonsense, and Norris had every right to be furious, particularly given the fact the Brit is Max Verstappen's closest rival in the drivers' championship standings.

However, perhaps that trust and politeness between their two drivers might just give the Woking-based team their best chance to win their first constructors' championship title since 1998.

READ MORE: McLaren star panicked with ALARMING setback at Hungarian Grand Prix

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Whilst you can forgive Max Verstappen for looking for his thrills elsewhere after dominating F1, it's time to assess whether his sim racing hobby has become a hindrance.

Over the course of the 70 laps around the Hungaroring the champion gave his race engineer an earful, with no one safe from his cutting remarks.

What started with fury at the FIA, was soon targeted towards his team in an X-rated rant, with no sight of a measured and mature three-time world champion.

We’ve all been a bit cranky after staying up late into the wee small hours, but for a professional athlete, the evening before a grand prix - there’s no excuse.

Verstappen is undoubtedly one of the greatest drivers of his generation and F1 fans deserve to see that racing talent on display alongside the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.

However, today’s Hungarian Grand Prix showed no such pedigree, with Verstappen’s championship position only safe because of a McLaren team squabble.

It's time for Red Bull to stand up to their star driver and ask him to re-shift his priorities to the sport that has offered him so much success.

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