Russell drops hilarious McLaren ‘T-bone’ quip after Norris and Piastri near-miss

Mercedes entered the room on social media after George Russell had some fun with the McLaren drivers over a scare at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri got a little too close for comfort to Lando Norris in the sister McLaren as the pair fought for victory at the Hungaroring. Russell – who completed the podium – could not resist getting a light-hearted quip over the near-miss.

Mercedes can tell George Russell REALLY wanted Hungarian GP win

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

McLaren drivers Piastri and Norris have gone down alternate strategy routes in back-to-back races. While in Belgium, Norris went for hard tyres as the track dried, compared to mediums for Piastri, at the Hungaroring, Norris made a one-stop strategy work versus Piastri’s two-stop. Both resulted in gripping battles for the win.

With their ‘papaya rules’ of engagement, McLaren looks to ensure that its drivers do not collide in combat, an F1 2025 title double looking almost guaranteed at this stage. But, sometimes the rules cannot prevent contact. The Canadian Grand Prix was an example of that, as Norris hit the back of Piastri as they battled for fourth, and Piastri did well to avoid a collision in Hungary.

Despite dropping to fifth at the start, Norris found himself leading at the Hungaroring with victory on the cards. His one-stop strategy gave him track position, but Piastri on a two-stop strategy had fresher tyres, and looked to use them as he lunged down the inside at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, only to lock-up and bail out with the door closing.

That was the end of the drama as Norris took the win – making it four McLaren one-twos on the trot – while Russell passed Charles Leclerc for the final podium position.

In the cooldown room, and as they re-watched that near-miss between Norris and Piastri, Russell jokingly expressed regret that Piastri failed to successfully “T-bone” his team-mate.

“Why didn’t you just T-bone him?” Russell said with a smile to Piastri.

“That would have been great!”

More key Hungarian GP talking points from PlanetF1.com

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Russell’s Mercedes team knew exactly the motivation for Russell to drop that quip.

“GEORGE!” Mercedes posted on X in response, with the addition of an emoji covering its eyes, plus a crying version. “He REALLY wanted another win.”

Third in Hungary marked Russell’s first visit to the podium since he won the Canadian Grand Prix.

Mercedes took a bold decision with its W16 challenger at the Hungaroring, opting to turn its back on the latest rear-suspension specification and revert to an old version, having seen their form decline in the rounds since.

Russell did not want to get too caried away despite an instant return to the podium, but he saw it as great momentum going into the summer break.

“It’s good to be back on the podium,” he declared. “It’s obviously been a challenging run of form for us as a team these last six or so races, so it’s a great way to enter the break.

“We reverted on some of the items we brought. Early in the season we brought a new rear-suspension that clearly wasn’t performing as we’d have hoped.

“But it was also a pretty unique weekend. You see the results by McLaren, and it was quite an unusual finishing order from P3 down. Obviously, Max [Verstappen] was quite out of position. The Astons had a really strong race weekend as well.

“So, I don’t think we should get carried away with the result. But, clearly, in terms of pace, it was our best race of the season bar Canada.”

Russell sits fourth in the Drivers’ Championship – 15 points behind Verstappen – with 10 rounds to come after the summer break. Mercedes meanwhile is third in the Constructors’, the gap to Ferrari now 24 points.

Read next: How Lewis Hamilton gave Piastri massive helping hand against Norris at Hungarian GP