McLaren's Lando Norris said he regrets overshadowing Australian teammate Oscar Piastri's first Formula One victory and their one-two at the Hungarian Grand Prix when he ignored team pleas to hand back the lead before finally giving way.
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Norris started on pole position last Sunday but Piastri took the lead at the start and remained ahead until the second round of pitstops when McLaren brought in Norris first to cover against rivals behind.
Norris took advantage, gaining the lead but with over 20 laps still to race, McLaren told the Briton to allow Piastri back in front. Norris eventually ceded with three laps remaining.
"It's such a stupid thing that I didn't (let him past immediately) because we were still free to race, so I could have just let him past and still try to overtake and to race him," Norris said, speaking ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
"Sounds so simple but it's not something that went through my head at the time. But I was just in a good rhythm, and things were going well at the time. I questioned it at the time, questioned the team a few times."
Norris said he regrets the fact that Piastri's win was not the main news after the race, and said the incident could have been dealt with better, by both himself and the team.
"Could it have been handled slightly differently from both a team side and a personal side? Yes, absolutely, and I think we wouldn't be having this conversation now in some ways," Norris said.
"The things that I could have done, the fact that I clouded over Oscar's first race win in Formula One, is something I've not felt too proud about.
"The fact we had a one-two, and that was barely a headline after the race, the fact we had a one-two and nothing was really spoken about from that side. That's the kind of thing I felt worse about."
Despite the fact that Norris is second in the drivers' championship behind Max Verstappen, and the team orders cost him valuable points, he does not think McLaren should always put him first.
"No, because that had nothing to do with last week," he said. "I shouldn't have led the race, that's the end of it. I shouldn't have been in the lead. Oscar got me off the line, he controlled it well. That was it.
"If Oscar was leading the whole race, there's absolutely zero reason for them to ask him to suddenly let me past, if you're thinking of it from a championship point of view.
"I don't know when that point is of like, if I'm 10 points behind, 15 points behind, whatever. I don't know when that point is, and that's not my decision."
Australian Associated Press
