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oscar piastri driver parade reaction at the hungarian grand prix 2024

No team orders for McLaren: "They don't care which order we come in"

21 July at 13:08
  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

Oscar Piastri qualified just +0.024 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen to give himself a front-row start for the Hungarian Grand Prix. He was beaten by just +0.022 seconds by his teammate Lando Norris into first place, and a lockout of the front row shows that McLaren are the team to beat around the Hungaroring after showing some superb pace in practice too. As a result, expectations from McLaren and from Piastri himself are very high for the Grand Prix.

Piastri it's a "great chance" to "score a lot of points"

A P2 at the Austrian Grand Prix is the best result for the Australian so far this season, and he will know that the chance for victory today is highly possible. Piastri currently sits on 124 championship points, good enough for fifth place in the drivers' standings, knowing that he could boost his points tally today.

Speaking at the drivers' parade around the Hungaroring before Sunday's Grand Prix, Piastri said: "It’s a great chance for the team to score a lot of points. I think from their point of view they don't care which order we come in as long as it's first and second. We've raced around each other a lot in the last 18 months. We know what's expected of us. Of course, we'll both go for the win but we’ll make sure we represent [the team]."

Knowing that potentially no team orders will be put in place for the Grand Prix, the Australian will know how important strategy will be around the Hungaroring. However, Piastri says there is "no more focus than usual" on strategy.

"The last few races have been a bit specific and specific in the situations we've been in. We'll see what the weather does today, but we've also made some really good strategic decisions in the last few races. The strategy we had in Barcelona was very good. Still opportunities that we missed out on, let's say, but we've had our good days, just nobody picks up on those as much.

"I think we're confident, and we know exactly what we need to do. We've got the same tyre choices as Max and the Ferraris. Mercedes have got a bit of a different choice to us," concluded the McLaren driver.