Team Principal Andrea Stella has opened up about Oscar Piastri’s emotional outburst over team radio, McLaren’s rationale behind their second pit stop sequence at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP, and the Australian’s run-in with backmarker Carlos Sainz in the latter half of the race.
While Lando Norris converted pole position into victory at the Hungaroring, which was also McLaren’s 204th victory and their third in a row in Budapest, Piastri suffered his first DNF of the 2026 F1 season.
What went down
As Lewis Hamilton impeded him in Q3, Piastri only managed to set the fifth-fastest time in qualifying. Nonetheless, he lined up in third on Sunday owing to the grid penalties the Ferrari driver and Kimi Antonelli had received.
With Norris going slightly wide at Turn 2, Piastri, who had overtaken Charles Leclerc at the start, took the opportunity to pass him.
The McLaren duo pulled out a gap in the early exchanges, and Piastri dived into the pits first at the end of Lap 16 with the strategy priority as a result of being ahead on track. Norris boxed on the next tour, and the 25-year-old narrowly held onto his advantage over him at the pit exit.
Piastri reclaimed the race lead on Lap 23 following Antonelli’s pit stop but came under serious pressure from Norris over the next handful of laps. While the reigning world champion had more pace, McLaren resisted his calls to be ushered through.
Piastri, as the lead McLaren driver, boxed again at the end of Lap 33 for another set of hard tyres to maintain his position over Hamilton, who had stopped three laps earlier.
However, the intra-team battle was flipped on its head on Lap 38 when backmarker Sainz made contact with Piastri at the exit of Turn 2, while blue flags were in play.
Given that the collision cost Piastri some valuable time, Norris had more than enough in hand to rejoin ahead of his teammate after making his second stop at the end of Lap 39.
The 2025 Hungarian GP winner eventually moved up to P2 when Antonelli called off his one-stop and pitted for a second time, but a gearbox failure prompted him to roll to a halt on Lap 56.
Stella addresses Piastri’s team radio outburst during 2026 Hungarian GP
“Get out of the f****** way, you idiot, oh my god,” Piastri raged at Sainz, as the latter ignored the blue flags and made contact with the McLaren driver on Lap 38.
The nine-time race winner also redirected some of that frustration towards his own team when he saw his chance to claim his first win of the season slip away after Norris made a rare overcut work to take the lead.
“Nice of you guys to factor that one in by the way, thanks,” Piastri said sarcastically.
Addressing Piastri’s uncharacteristic outburst over team radio at the 2026 Hungarian GP, Andrea Stella revealed in a post-race print media session that the Australian had explained his comments afterwards.
Stating that the explosive remarks were simply made in anger, the Italian also maintained that Piastri had ultimately understood how McLaren were merely trying to let their two drivers race each other fairly for the win.
Stella added that the Woking-based outfit was quite content with the competitiveness both Piastri and Norris had shown at the Hungaroring on Sunday.
“First of all, let me say that immediately after the race, Oscar [Piastri] clarified that this comment was a comment in anger and that what happened today in terms of how the race unfolded, the competition between the two McLaren drivers was all fair, and it was great racing.
“So, from this point of view, I think we are pretty happy with the racing that we have seen today.”
Piastri’s early race lead and the timing of his second pit stop
Noting that the drivers’ positions at the end of the opening lap dictated how their respective races initially unfolded, Andrea Stella also admitted that he was satisfied with how both Piastri and Norris had left each other enough space to avoid any contact as the five red lights went out in Hungary.
Furthermore, Stella underlined how Piastri’s Lap 1 overtake had presented him with the golden opportunity to win the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP before the misfortunes he encountered in the second half of the race.
However, McLaren’s Team Principal was quick to defend the pit wall’s decision to pit Piastri for the second time at the end of Lap 33, arguing that it was necessary to cover off Hamilton.
“The drivers had their opportunities in corner 1 and 2.
“I’m very pleased with the respectful approach that they had to each other, staying away from contact. And ultimately Oscar took the lead because he judged the grip in corner 2 better than Lando [Norris].
“From there, Oscar had his own opportunities of winning the race, leading the race. At some stage, we needed to pit to cover Hamilton because here you can’t really afford to give any positional advantage.
“And then there were a couple of unfortunate episodes.”
Stella on how Piastri’s chances of winning the 2026 Hungarian GP evaporated
Andrea Stella mentioned that Sainz making contact with Piastri on Lap 38 of the 2026 Hungarian GP was the first incident that had compromised the 25-year-old’s race.
While he assumed that a malfunction of the blue flag panels had resulted in limited visibility and made it harder for the backmarkers to move aside for incoming faster cars, the 55-year-old defended Sainz, claiming that the Williams driver’s move must have been genuinely accidental.
Conceding that the aforementioned contact had cost Piastri several seconds, Stella emphasised how Norris’s superb pace in clear air and successful overcut dealt the Australian his second major blow in Sunday’s event.
“Obviously, the most important is the fact that Oscar had a collision with a backmarker.
“At the time, my understanding is that the blue panels were not working. So, perhaps today was more difficult than normal for the backmarkers to appreciate what was happening in the mirrors.
“And Carlos [Sainz] is a very fair, very correct driver. So, I’m sure that that was absolutely unintentional. But a bit of a shame for Oscar, he lost seconds.
“And at the same time, once Lando was released, then his pace was simply mega. I think he found kind of half second per lap. And this pace meant that Lando could pit ahead of Oscar.”
Stella says McLaren understand Piastri’s frustration but refutes claims of unfairness
Proclaiming that both Piastri and Norris contending for the win and engaging in excellent racing in Budapest bode well for the team, Andrea Stella refuted any suggestions of unfairness and restated that McLaren were simply trying to prioritise the lead driver as far as their second pit stop sequence was concerned.
Additionally, Stella reiterated how he is understanding of Piastri’s adrenaline-fuelled anger and that McLaren bear no ill will towards him due to the comments he made in the heat of the moment.
“So, for me, this is just great racing, sophisticated racing in a way. And the good news is that the two McLaren drivers are in contention for a victory or a podium. So, that’s certainly not the case [of unfairness].
“I think Oscar understood it immediately. It’s absolutely understandable that when you lead the race for almost half [of it], and then you see yourself losing the lead because of an episode with a backmarker, then you may have a moment and make a comment in anger. But there’s absolutely no problem from this point of view.”
