RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Former IndyCar Series driver and F1 TV pundit James Hinchcliffe believes Lando Norris would have comfortably defeated his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix, regardless of the Australian's contact with backmarker Carlos Sainz .
The reigning Formula 1 champion delivered a commanding drive at the Hungaroring to claim his first victory of the 2026 season. While Norris started from pole position, his team-mate took the lead early on.
As the Briton closed in and argued that he had more pace than his team-mate ahead of him, McLaren gave Piastri pitstop priority on lap 33. "We can’t, I’m afraid," McLaren told Norris when he requested a pitstop, to which he responded: "You mean you won’t let me? I’m miles faster."
But while Piastri made his way through the backmarkers, Williams driver Sainz made contact with him and was penalised for the collision. Norris went on to win the race, and Piastri ultimately retired on lap 56 due to a technical failure.
"He was unstoppable today, wasn't he? I mean, such a dominant performance," Hinchcliffe said during the F1 TV post-race debrief show.
"Even when he lost the lead, he had so much more pace than Oscar had even before Oscar's problems; he had the pace to do the undercut. He had the pace to do the overcut. He really had the entire field covered. Yes, the car was great. The driver today was exceptional as well."
Lando Norris, McLaren
Lando Norris, McLaren
Hinchcliffe argued that Norris would have won the race even if Piastri had not had the collision with Sainz or retired.
"The rules are the rules, right? The contact here with Sainz was a very bizarre situation, and Jolyon [Palmer] said it in the broadcast: Sainz is a smart guy. He knows the rules. He knows what's up. Something went wrong there. Something in the communication, the system, whatever."
He added: "But I think my point is that once you saw the pace advantage that Lando had, I think he'd have been able with a little bit of a tyre offset to execute a very safe overtake well within the team-mate guidelines. And I really do think that it was going to be hard for him to lose this race."
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