McLaren and Red Bull radio communications tell the backstory about what happened on Sunday.
The backstory of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix was played out over the team radios at McLaren and Red Bull via heated radio communications between Lando Norris and his race engineer, Will Joseph, and Max Verstappen and his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
As the second and final round of pit stops approached, McLaren were in 1st and 2nd places, seemingly cruising to a dominant 1-2 finish for the team. Oscar Piastri was the lead driver ahead of his more experienced and potential world championship-challenging teammate, Lando Norris. In that scenario, the usual approach to team pit-stop decisions is for the lead driver, in this case, Piastri, to have the preferred strategy. However, McLaren decided to pit Lando Norris first, allowing him to undercut Piastri and take the race lead when the young Australian pitted two laps later.
As the lead change was caused by team strategy, Will Joseph asked Norris to swap the positions back so that Piastri would re-take the race lead. However, Norris seemed deaf to the request. The minimal responses he provided suggested he wasn’t going to surrender the lead to Piastri. He, not Piastri, was the faster driver at that point, and Norris said that to swap positions, “Oscar would first need to catch up.” The McLaren team response was clear: Piastri was managing his tyres as Norris pushed hard to prove the “I am faster” argument.
Nearly 20 laps of pleading followed with Will Joseph telling Norris “to do the right thing.” The messaging included a variety of appeals. “We are a team.” “We will need Oscar in the future.” “Remember what we discuss every Sunday morning at our team meeting.”
Eventually, with two laps remaining in the race, Norris conceded the lead, and Piastri claimed a well-deserved victory. In his post-race comments, Norris claimed he had intended to swap positions despite in-race radio messages suggesting otherwise.
As for Red Bull, radio communications between Max Verstappen and his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, got increasingly heated as Verstappen became more frustrated with how his race played out. Initially, Verstappen was unhappy with the handling and performance of his Red Bull car as he struggled to keep pace with the two McLaren cars at the head of the race. This frustration grew closer to anger when Red Bull delayed his first pit stop, allowing Lewis Hamilton to undercut him and move into 3rd position ahead of him. Even though Verstappen quickly caught Hamilton, he could not overtake the Mercedes car despite numerous attempts.
Verstappen’s agitation increased when Red Bull again delayed his pit stop, allowing Hamilton to pull clear in third place and Charles Leclerc to undercut him, dropping Verstappen to fifth. In response, Verstappen swore at race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase about his car’s poor performance, the overall race strategy, and what he perceived as Lewis Hamilton’s unfair block. As the race inched toward the end, Lambiase, now fed up with the protests, called Verstappen “childish.”
The radio communications portray Verstappen as OK when he is in the quickest car and cruises to Formula One wins, but not when he must battle for victories. Moreover, and unlike Norris, Verstappen was unrepentant post-race. When pressed about his swearing, he said people “should stay at home” if they don’t like it. Furthermore, he interpreted the issues as “team problems,” using language like “the team did” or “the team did not.” Unwilling to accept personal responsibility, it appeared Verstappen was distancing himself from being a Red Bull team member.
What do the radio communications tell us about Lando Norris and Max Verstappen? Their commitment to winning at all costs got the better of them. The hopeful news is that Norris eventually recognized his churlish behavior. Verstappen did not. Most telling about the contrast is that Verstappen is the reigning champion. As a champion, the sport needs him to be better.
