Norris admits that giving way to teammate Piastri, who had a good start and dominated the pace of the race for most of the race, at the end of the Hungary was a "painful" but fair thing to do for him as he fought for his first World Title.
In Hungary, the United Kingdom driver was once again unable to convert pole position into a lead at the first corner, with Piastri moving up from the inside and Norris dropping to third in a hand-to-hand fight with Verstappen, but thanks to the Red Bull ace overtaking him from outside the track, the McLaren driver dominated the battle and the two remained in first and second place.
As the race entered the second half, in order to prevent his drivers from mishapping, a small mistake by Piastri in the middle of the race allowed Norris to significantly narrow the gap with his teammates. As well as the threat of Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen in the rear, McLaren began to manage their drivers.
The McLaren team opted to pit Norris for the second pit stop, and due to the time difference, Piastri fell behind his team-mate to become second when he returned to the pitch with his second stop. McLaren Racing was forced to plead with Norris to give the lead back to his team-mates, a promise they had given Piastri before the United Kingdom driver pitted.
Norris didn't seem to plan to do that, and said that he would only give way when his teammates caught up with him, and at one point stretched the gap between the two to about six seconds. However, after some communication with the team, Norris relented and slowed down with three laps left to let Piastri pass.
Asked how difficult it was to choose to give way to Piastri, Norris said: "It's so hard and I think it's not an easy decision for anyone to give up that position when you're in the lead."
"Obviously because of my situation, they put me in the first place, which made me the new leader and allowed me to open the gap easily. I did what I had to do, but it also gave me the opportunity. So, I think it's fair to get the position back."
"I don't want to come across as unfair, after all, Oscar has done a lot for me in the past and helped me in many competitions. He was better than me this time, you know, a better start, I had a terrible start and he deserved to win this fight, so it was the right thing to do."
However, Norris admits it was "painful" to do so, adding: "Anytime you have to give up a win. I knew I didn't deserve this win almost from the start, and I guess that's the point."
"When you're in the lead and you have to hand it over, it's definitely painful, especially from the point of view of competing for the Drivers' World Championship, because every point counts."
'I know I'm so far behind Max in the standings and I know that and I don't need to be told. I lost seven points today, not because I gave up the lead, but because I had another bad start, and that's why I lost today."
"So, it's so hard."
While frustrated by missing out on another chance to win, Norris believes that winning and finishing second is a good achievement for McLaren Racing, the last time they won and finished second was in Italy in 2021, saying: "I don't want to overshadow our achievements of winning and finishing second at the same time, because this is a great achievement for everyone, the first time since Monza. But I think it's the first time we've done it on the basis of our strength, and we were very fast all weekend, with qualifying for the first and second places, and today we won and second place."
"You know it's a great feeling, everyone in the team is very happy and very proud of it, happy with the journey we're going through, happy with the progress we've made, and it's great to have the same result next time."
Norris, who has failed to turn pole position into a lead at Turn 1 several times this year, said: "I have to re-examine the situation. I was just terrible when I shifted into second gear..., I had no problem starting and I was very responsive, but when I shifted to second gear, the power didn't connect, I don't know what was going on yet, but I'll look into it."