Hungarian GP

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

So there was no pre-race agreement.

There was pre-race agreement, but we don't know what it was exactly, but the engineers acknowledged it in their communication with Lando, and there was clear instruction to Lando that he was to return to the order before his final pit stop because he acknowledged that after the race.

So I can only assume that the post by peterelise is something that Stella has said they need to make clearer in future.

[peterelise]

Yes, although I didn’t hear it direct from Stella’s mouth. I think it was Brundle who made reference to the outcome of the team debrief being that they should have informed Lando of the plan to switch them before they brought him in.

[S griffin]

It was a bad mismanagement. Brundle has a point there. They didn't really think it through and left Norris in an impossible situation

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

There was pre-race agreement, but we don't know what it was exactly, but the engineers acknowledged it in their communication with Lando, and there was clear instruction to Lando that he was to return to the order before his final pit stop because he acknowledged that after the race.

So I can only assume that the post by peterelise is something that Stella has said they need to make clearer in future.

Ok, so if there was a pre-race agreement, why then in the debrief are they saying they should have informed Lando of the plan to switch? Surely he would have known about it, if it was a pre-race agreement?

[peterelise]

I don’t know what any pre race agreement covered but I don’t believe it covered the fact they would pit the 2nd driver first and undercut the lead driver and then want to swap. I believe this was done in response to them thinking HAM was in undercut range of NOR. I would guess any pre race agreement would have been along the lines of “race each other cleanly up until lap [40] but after that hold station (assuming no threat from behind)” but this is all speculation on my part.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Ok, so if there was a pre-race agreement, why then in the debrief are they saying they should have informed Lando of the plan to switch? Surely he would have known about it, if it was a pre-race agreement?

A driver remembering a pre-race agreement without being reminded of it by the engineer would be pretty rare these days.

It does appear that the team had agreed before the race how intra-team competition would be handled, what it appears may not have happened is that Lando was reminded of that prior to his pit stop (we heard Oscar being told by his engineer that they'd swap positions after the stops if Lando ended up in front).

[chillibowl]

that there was an agreement, regardless of whether it happened pre or mid race isnt probably the headline anymore...

perhaps more interesting, heading into the break and after another dreadful start/unforced error from Norris allowing OP to further close the gap (forget about winning the drivers even), Mclaren look set for the 2nd half of having to manage a driver paring where the younger (less highly paid) driver may be emerging as the horse to bet on.

a tricky situation any way you cut it but should be fun to watch!

[Skam85]

It wouldn't have been an agreement. They would have discussed each possible scenario and this was clearly one of them.