Oscar Piastri fumed at McLaren’s strategy and labelled Carlos Sainz an “idiot” as he vented his fury during the Hungarian Grand Prix. He led for much of the race after getting the jump on team-mate Lando Norris on the opening lap, but it all unravelled in the second half of the 70-lap contest after his second pit stop – before a gearbox issue eventually ended his day early.
Piastri had priority because he was the one ahead of Norris and he pitted first, coming back out with two backmarkers ahead of him fighting for position. Sainz was trying to get past one of the Aston Martins and did not seem to notice that Piastri was trying to come through, despite blue flags being shown to tell him to move aside.
The result was Sainz cut back to the outside of the track where Piastri was and the rear-left wheel of his Williams slammed into the front-right of the McLaren. It did not seem to do much damage to the Australian’s car, but it did slow him up enough to present an opportunity to Norris, who pitted and then came out ahead as a result.
“Get out of the way you f*****g idiot, oh my god,” Piastri raged over the radio, his ire directed at Sainz. But he was also upset with his McLaren team for putting him in that position with the timing of his stop, telling race engineer Tom Stallard: “Oh mate, just don’t f*****g talk to me now. Nice of you guys to factor that one in, by the way. Thanks.”
Not long after that, Norris swept past Antonelli who was yet to make his second stop and took full control of the Grand Prix, while Piastri had slipped to 10 seconds adrift of the lead with 20 laps to go. That pretty much ended the Aussie’s chances of a first win of the year.
By the time Antonelli did pull into the pit lane for his final set of tyres for the day, Piastri assumed second place but was more than 12 seconds adrift of Norris who was cruising to the chequered flag with 15 laps to go. Rather than looking ahead, he was being caught up by Lewis Hamilton behind and had to defend second place rather than attack what was in front.
He never got the chance to fight, though, as with 13 laps to go Piastri pulled over at the side of the track, reporting a gearbox failure. It was terribly timed for Antonelli who had only stopped a few laps earlier and so had to stay out on his hard tyres, while everyone else around him was able to pit for softs.
That gave Antonelli track position, vaulting him up to third, but he was a sitting duck for Hamilton behind.