Andrea Stella has dismissed concerns surrounding Oscar Piastri’s angry McLaren team radio message at the Hungarian Grand Prix, insisting the Australian’s frustration did not reflect unfair treatment from the team. The McLaren team principal maintained that the battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris had been completely fair, with both drivers given genuine opportunities to win in Budapest.
McLaren rediscovered the feeling of dominating Formula 1 in Hungary. After a difficult first half of the season, the reigning constructors’ champions returned to the form they had displayed over the previous two years, not only winning the race but controlling it convincingly. Without the technical problem that stopped Oscar Piastri in the closing stages, McLaren could have secured a one-two finish in Hungary, with the Australian following Lando Norris home in second place.
However, as often happened in previous seasons, internal tension began to emerge once both McLaren cars occupied the leading positions.
Oscar Piastri’s angry McLaren team radio message
Oscar Piastri ran ahead of Lando Norris during the opening phase of the race, but the reigning world champion moved in front after the second round of pit stops. Oscar Piastri’s progress was significantly affected by a near-collision with the lapped Carlos Sainz, but the Australian then accused McLaren over the radio of deliberately making his task more difficult by releasing him into traffic.
Lando Norris, by contrast, found himself with clear track ahead and was able to exploit the full performance of his car. The situation prompted Oscar Piastri to question McLaren’s strategy before a technical failure eventually forced him to retire and ended the team’s hopes of a double podium.
Andrea Stella insists McLaren’s Hungarian GP race was fair
During McLaren’s traditional post-race press conference, held inside the team’s hospitality unit, Andrea Stella moved quickly to calm any potential controversy over how the two drivers had been managed.
“I would like to clarify that immediately after the race, Oscar explained that his comment had been made in anger and that, in terms of how the race unfolded, the competition between the two McLaren drivers was completely fair and we saw a good race. So, from that point of view, I think we are quite satisfied with the race we saw today,” Andrea Stella stressed.
According to Andrea Stella, both drivers had an opportunity to establish themselves at the front during the opening corners. Oscar Piastri ultimately emerged ahead after making a better judgement of the available grip.
“The drivers had their opportunities at Turns 1 and 2. I’m very happy with the respectful approach they took towards one another, avoiding contact, and in the end Oscar took the lead because he judged the grip at Turn 2 better than Lando did. From there, Oscar had his opportunities to win the race and to take the lead,” Andrea Stella explained.
Why McLaren brought Oscar Piastri into the pits
Andrea Stella also explained that McLaren had needed to react strategically to Lewis Hamilton. Giving away track position at the Hungaroring was not considered a viable option, forcing the team to make its pit-stop decision despite the traffic Oscar Piastri would encounter after returning to the circuit.
“At one point we had to pit to cover Lewis Hamilton, because here you cannot afford to give away any track position. Then there were a couple of unfortunate incidents. Obviously, the most significant was Oscar’s collision with a lapped car,” the McLaren team principal added.
“Oscar lost several seconds there. At the same time, once Lando had clear air, his pace simply became fantastic. I think he gained half a second per lap and that pace allowed him to come out of the pits ahead of Oscar.”
That surge in clear air proved decisive in Lando Norris’s breakthrough Hungarian Grand Prix victory, while Oscar Piastri’s late retirement denied McLaren the opportunity to convert its performance advantage into a one-two finish.
McLaren sees no problem between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Despite the Australian’s heated reaction, Andrea Stella insisted there was no lingering issue within McLaren. He considered the radio message an understandable emotional response from a driver who had led for a significant part of the race before losing valuable time through an incident involving a lapped car.
“The good news is that both McLaren drivers were in contention for the win and the podium. It is completely understandable that when you lead the race for so many laps and then lose the lead because of an incident with a lapped car, you can have a moment of anger and make a radio comment, but from that point of view there is absolutely no problem.”
The final 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix classification therefore showed Lando Norris as the winner but could not fully reflect how close McLaren had come to placing both cars on the Budapest podium.
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