'Very pleased with the respectful approach' – Stella praises 'great racing' between McLaren drivers in Hungary

Andrea Stella has praised the "respectful approach" between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as they battled for victory in last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Reigning World Champion Norris ultimately came away with his first Grand Prix win of the season in Sunday's 70-lap race at the the Hungaroring, having initially lost the lead at Turn 2 to Piastri after running wide.

Piastri continued to lead the opening stint and rejoined from his first pit stop still ahead, with Norris claiming over the radio he could run much quicker in cleaner air.

Piastri was brought in earlier for his second stop, with the Australian held up by traffic on his fresh tyres – notably through Turn 2 where he made contact with Carlos Sainz's Williams – leading to an angry outburst about the team's strategy over the radio.

Norris pitted six laps later and rejoined ahead, going on to win as Piastri ultimately retired with a suspected gearbox issue, with McLaren Team Principal Stella stating that the latter had apologised for his comments about the team during the race.

"Let me say that immediately after the race, Oscar clarified that his 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," said Stella.

"So from this point of view, I think we are pretty happy with the racing that we have seen today. The drivers had their opportunities in corner one and two.

"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 two, and took the lead from Lando. From there, Oscar had his own opportunities of winning the race, leading the race."

Stella explained the reason behind pitting Piastri when the team did, with the chasing pack led by Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari posing a threat to McLaren's chance of victory.

"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," said Stella.

"Obviously the most important [factor] is the fact that Oscar had a collision with a back marker. At the time my understanding is that the blue panels were not working, so perhaps today was more difficult than normal for the back markers to appreciate what was happening in the mirrors. Carlos 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 added: "It's absolutely understandable that when you lead the race for almost half, and then you see yourself losing the lead because of an episode with a back marker. Then you know you may have a moment and make a comment in anger but there's absolutely no problem from this point of view."

Despite Piastri's struggles and ultimate retirement, Stella was pleased with the pace of Norris, who had beaten the Ferraris in Qualifying and was the dominant force during the race as new upgrades helped move McLaren back into contention.

"Once Lando was released, then his pace was simply mega. I think he found kind of half a second per lap. And this pace meant that Lando could pit ahead of Oscar," said Stella.

"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."