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Zak Brown
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Zak Brown reveals one-stop gamble that led to Norris and Piastri on track battle: ‘Knew it would come’

18:35, 03 Aug
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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has weighed in on the one-stop strategy that led to the late race battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 53-year-old also detailed how close to perfect the Budapest event turned out for his team.
The McLaren team, which witnessed both Norris and Piastri finish behind Charles Leclerc during qualifying, were hoping to get past the Ferrari driver early in the race. While overtaking the Monegasque driver would prove a little difficult on track, a perfectly executed strategy for Norris and a bold overtake by Piastri would subsequently witness both Papaya coloured cars get past Leclerc.
When asked about the first and second place finish by the McLaren team, Brown, who spoke to Sky Sports F1, admitted how the team admitted the battle for victory could come down to the final laps between both drivers.
“Everyone will sleep well tonight - great way to go into the summer break. You’re never perfect in a race but I think that was as close to perfect as you can get. The drivers were awesome, pit stops amazing, strategy was great to get Lando up there, Oscar drove brilliantly. I couldn’t be prouder of this racing team.”
“All under control. I had some good chats with Andrea [Stella] during the race, it was very exciting. It was a great Grand Prix. With Lando’s first lap, we weren’t planning a one-stop strategy; we didn’t know if we could but then it got to a point where let’s try. Knew it would come down to the last five laps there, and good to see them race very hard, very clean and they’re both happy boys."

Zak Brown on the different strategies for both Norris and Piastri

The 53-year-old also weighed in on the different strategies employed for both drivers during the race.
“We were talking to Oscar on the radio on if he wanted to race Lando or Charles. He wanted to race Lando which was understandable. You just had two different strategies that converged and it couldn’t have been closer. Oscar was faster at the end and just couldn’t get by.”
“Unlike Silverstone, when Oscar was obviously disappointed he didn’t win, I think here he understands everyone gave it their best shot.”
The win for Norris at the Budapest event saw him cut the gap to Piastri at the top of the championship to seven points. Both drivers will shift focus to rekindling their rivalry when the Formula 1 season resumes for its final half at the Dutch Grand Prix.