10/08/2025 09:15
Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has dealt Lando
Norris a harsh reminder, despite having "outsmarted" Oscar Piastri
in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Norris started the Hungarian GP from
third on the grid, whilst Piastri sealed a front row start in
second. The Briton endured a terrible start, and dropped to fifth
by the end of the first lap. By the time he had overtaken Fernando
Alonso for fourth, the top three had built an advantage of several
seconds. As a result, it triggered a strategic change by Norris'
side of the garage, switching from a two-stop to a one-stop
strategy. With the top three all completing a two-stop, Norris
moved into the lead. He faced the task of completing a huge stint
on a set of hard tyres, whilst Piastri on fresher rubber chased
after him. It resulted in a dramatic battle in the final laps, but
Norris secured victory. It moved the 25-year-old to just nine
points adrift of Piastri in the F1 drivers' title, setting up the
final 10 rounds. "I think he outsmarted [Piastri], or him and his
engineer, fair play to him and his engineer and the strategist.
They outsmarted Oscar," Steiner assessed on the Red Flags podcast.
However, whilst Norris reduced the gap to his team-mate, the title
picture would look very different if not for one damning mistake.
As highlighted by Steiner, Norris would be leading the championship
by a point, had he settled for fifth behind Piastri in the Canadian
Grand Prix, rather than crash into him and retire. Steiner added:
"Guess what, if Lando hadn't done his little mistakes... In Canada,
if he would have been patient and stayed in fifth, guess where he
would be? "Leading the world championship by I think a point,
yeah. But, if and but doesn't give you a point. So, he made a
mistake running into good old Oscar, and now he's still second,
even if he had outsmarted him now in Hungary."
