Oscar Piastri has been denied another F1 win this season by less than one second, as his teammate Lando Norris pulled off a terrific strategy to win the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Starting third, Norris dropped down to fifth on the opening lap and then fell out of sequence with the leaders, who all elected to have two pit stops.
Norris and McLaren gambled on stopping just once and it paid off, with the British driver holding off a fast-finishing Piastri by 0.698 seconds, with Mercedes driver George Russell a distant third.
Pole sitter and early race leader Charles Leclerc looked set for a race-long battle with Piastri for the win, but an apparent chassis issue on his Ferrari resulted in him tumbling to fourth.
Piastri had chances in the final laps, on fresher tyres, to overtake his teammate for the win, but could not make the move stick.
Reflecting on the race, Piastri said the team would analyse whether focusing on Leclerc in the early stages was the right decision, rather than covering off his title-rival teammate who went onto a different strategy.
"I pushed as hard as I could. When I saw Lando going for a one [stop], I knew I'd have to overtake on track, which is easier said than done around here," Piastri said.
"[Norris] didn't have much to lose, so it wasn't a huge surprise.
"I don't know if trying to undercut Leclerc was the right call in the end."
Norris was forced into a one-stop strategy while McLaren's focus for Piastri was on battling Leclerc.
However, the Hungaroring, outside Budapest, is notoriously difficult to overtake on.
Piastri was able to pass Leclerc with ease in the final stages as he hunted the win, but Norris was too good on a day where, at one stage, a podium place seemed unlikely.
"We weren't planning on the one-stop at the beginning, but after the first lap, it was our only chance to get back into things," Norris said.
"I didn't think it would get us the win, I thought it would get us into second, as I knew the pace was good.
"It's always a bit of a gamble; it requires good laps and no mistakes."
Piastri's lead in the drivers' championship is nine points as F1 heads into the mid-year break.
Relive all the action of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix on the blog below.
[blog]
