The defending world champion has reflected on one of the defining moments of McLaren’s recent rise, when he was instructed to give the lead back to Piastri at the Hungaroring.
Piastri had been on course for his maiden F1 win before McLaren pitted Norris first to cover the threat of an undercut, a move that lifted the Briton ahead of his team-mate.
Norris was eventually told to return the position, despite being in pursuit of Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship at the time.
The moment caused major debate, but Norris said on the Beyond The Grid podcast that ignoring the order would have carried a personal and professional cost he would not have been comfortable with.
“You can easily go back to Budapest a couple years ago. I led the race, and there’s so many people like, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t have let him back past’ and all those things,” Norris said.
“So easy for me to just keep pounding around and win the race. Some people might have loved that, but I genuinely probably wouldn’t have been able to live with that for the rest of my life.
“The team wouldn’t be the same as they are now, probably wouldn’t have won the constructors for the last two years, which probably means we wouldn’t have won the driver’s championship.
“I wouldn’t have won a driver’s championship last year.
“That’s how easy it is for things to go wrong in Formula 1. So yeah, I think if I won that race, McLaren wouldn’t have achieved what they have over the last few years.”
The race was eventually won by Piastri, giving the Australian his first grand prix victory, while Norris finished second.
McLaren went on to win the constructors’ championship in 2024 before retaining it in 2025, the same year Norris claimed his maiden drivers’ crown.
Norris’ comments come amid a more difficult 2026 campaign for McLaren, which has yet to win a grand prix after starting the season short of the form that carried it to both titles last year.
Norris sits fifth in the drivers’ standings, one point behind Piastri, with McLaren having battled reliability problems and a slower start to the new campaign.
Despite the tougher title defence, Norris insisted his commitment to McLaren remains strong after joining the team’s junior program in 2017 and making his F1 debut with the squad in 2019.
Asked whether he could spend his entire career with McLaren, Norris said that remained a realistic possibility, while giving a cryptic response over which team he would consider leaving for.
“Very, very potentially because I don’t know how long I’ll be in Formula 1. My contract still goes for a good amount of years so I know I’m not leaving any time soon.
“I don’t know. If there’s any place I want to go, there’s only one place I’d ever be interested in but that’s very, very in the distant future.”
Norris said his current priority was to stay with McLaren long-term, having helped guide the team from the midfield to championship success.
“For now, I’m heavily committed to McLaren being the only team I’ll ever want to be with and I feel like they’re my family,” he added.
“I want to do as much as I can with McLaren for as long as possible – for five years, 10 years – and I’m very, very proud and happy that I can say that, more than many other drivers ever in Formula 1.
“For me, that’s my goal, to be with McLaren forever, but I also love winning. So, until that time comes, you never know.
“But even if I’m not winning – you know, I didn’t win for six years, I could have gone to different places and I didn’t because, at the end of the day, I just want to enjoy.”
Norris said his early years with McLaren had helped shape his perspective on the team’s current difficulties, having waited until 2024 to take his first grand prix win.
“I’ve spent, what, six years trying to win a race,” Norris said.
“For me, I was trying to win, because we had such a terrible car, for six years. I’m more used to not winning because of these situations than I am to it.”
However, Norris said winning the world championship had not reduced his motivation to chase further success.
“The hunger is still there,” he said.
“I think there are some things in life that, once you get that feeling of doing it once, you want more of it.
“Success is certainly addictive, it’s a drug, and you certainly get that from winning trophies and celebrating with the team and all of these incredible things.”
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