Nico Rosberg offers McLaren boss words of advice after F1 Hungarian GP fiasco

Nico Rosberg had a suggestion for McLaren team principal Andrea Stella after the latter found himself in a tough situation during the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix. Rosberg, who is an experienced racer, asked Stella to have firm orders for drivers so that they can avoid such mishaps in the future.

The recently concluded race at Hungaroring saw moments of tension between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after a miscalculated strategy swapped their position. Piastri was leading the race, but the team wanted to cover off Hamilton by pitting Norris on Lap 46.

They called Piastri to the pit two laps later. In doing so, the team unintentionally undercut Piastri and sent Norris to lead. However, the Papayas wanted to re-establish the order and have Piastri lead the race, but at Norris' convenience.

Initially hesitant, the British driver finally dropped back and allowed Piastri to pass after his race engineer Will Joseph repeatedly spoke about the team game and how Norris would need the team and Piastri in the future.

Upon witnessing this, fans and experts called out McLaren's strategy that ruined Piastri's race-winning celebration and denied Norris a second Grand Prix win. Therefore, Rosberg has shared some words of advice with Stella so that McLaren can avoid such situations going forward (via Sky):

"I strongly recommend that you guys, in managing the intra-team battles between the two drivers, need to be extremely clear and firm? Today there was a word, 'At your convenience Lando,' that for a driver leaves the door very wide open to use all kinds of gray areas."

"So, that'd be my strong recommendation going forward, very clear and strong instruction from the pit wall to the drivers. Otherwise, you end up in a whole bunch of difficulties between the drivers, and I talk from experience," he added.

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 F1 champion, spent four crucial years at Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton where the Silver Arrows experienced considerable intra-team rivalries.

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McLaren boss stays firm on the controversial team order

Despite the controversial nature of the McLaren team order, Andrea Stella in the post-race interview at Hungaroring revealed that he stands by the call.

Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and Randy Singh, Strategy and Sporting Director of McLaren, celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 21, 2024, in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

He stated that the drivers need the team, and vice versa:

"I think it's true that for a driver if you want to be competitive in the championship, for Lando in particular, who is in the strongest position, he will need the support of Oscar, he will need the support of the team. So, I think that's how we are moving forward."

Thanks to their 1-2 finish at Budapest, McLaren have overtaken Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship and reached P2. With that, they have trimmed their gap to Red Bull by 51 points after 13 races with 11 to go.