Lando Norris could have won the last FIVE grands prix but for nagging mistakes, writes JONATHAN McEVOY… so, are the wheels falling off at Red Bull?

Madness in Budapest. Mess even as McLaren succeeded. Crazy radio exchanges. And the big question, would Lando Norris yield to team orders to sacrifice a victory that should have ignited his world championship ambitions?

Finally, he did comply, but he admitted afterwards that he considered defiance before slowing down with three laps remaining to let his garage-mate Oscar Piastri claim his maiden win. Joy for him.

Norris, perhaps rightly, conceded that it was the 23-year-old Australian and not he who deserved the triumph. That is so on the evidence of the start, when pole-man Norris slipped down to fourth and Piastri grabbed the lead – but enough of that early part of the race for now.

Just as the story of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's coming together, the Red Bull of the triple world champion sent partially airborne, must wait. The Dutchman was angry all afternoon, and finished fifth, his championship lead slipping to 76 points.

But to the big talking point of this extraordinary race played out on tarmac so hot you could have fried eggs on it.

The drama ramped up a gear when Norris was called in on lap 45 of 70. He was lying second with Piastri leading. He was handed the undercut so as to cover Lewis Hamilton, who was close enough to worry about. Piastri was kept out two laps longer. This manufactured Norris a lead of about three seconds.

He was soon told to 'reestablish the order'. Now the needle started.

Coded messages were relayed. And overt ones. It was a test of the 24-year-old's ruthlessness as well as his sense of sportsmanship. Would he budge? Should he budge, even? He was now the faster of the papaya cars, and by some way. He pulled out an advantage of over five seconds.

He also had a world championship to think about – when will that penny ever drop at McLaren? He was the one who started the day 84 points behind Verstappen; not 131 back like Piastri. If he had been allowed to win, Verstappen's lead would be reduced to 69 points with 11 rounds remaining. Game on.

As it looked likely Norris wouldn't give way, his race engineer Will Joseph told him to do so ever more firmly. 'You can't win a world championship on your own,' he was warned. 'The only way is to win it as a team.'

'You have made your point,' he was told as he kept up his runaway charge.

But, finally, he relented. He reduced speed on the pit straight. 'You don't need to say anything,' he said, wryly.

What a strange day for McLaren. This was their first one-two for three years, they had oodles of pace, they could see the Red Bull ship listing – and, still, these public demonstrations of confusion.

Norris's team principal, Andre Stella, responsible for so much of the team's recent improvement, a fabulous engineer and a decent man, said he never believed Norris would ignore the instructions.

Later on, sitting on the press conference couch, Norris was more conciliatory than in the cockpit, saying: 'I didn't give up the race win. I lost if off the line, so I didn't deserve it.

'Things are always going to go through your mind because you have to be selfish in this sport. You must think of yourself as priority No 1.

'But I am also a team player, so my mind was going pretty crazy. I don't think I should have been put in that position by the team.'

That seems fair. Why didn't they bring in Piastri, the leader after all, one lap earlier than Norris? Problems averted. And why keep him out two laps longer, rather than the one?

But Norris, who might have won the last five grands prix but for nagging mistakes at crucial times by him and the team, must see a flickering chance in the championship fight.

'The gap between me and Max is pretty big. But, if he and Red Bull make mistakes like they did today and as a team we continue to improve, we can turn it around.

'Yes, it is a big goal to say I can close 70 points in half a season, and then you think of the seven points I gave away today – that crosses your mind for sure.'

Drama stalked the afternoon even before the race began, with Norris complaining of a faulty throttle as he drove to the grid. Cue frantic repairs. And then the Hamilton-Verstappen smash on lap 63. That went before the stewards: no action. It looked to me, if anything, as though Verstappen chucked the car down the inside rashly. He accused Hamilton of steering under braking.

There was also the case of Verstappen, in rising ire, complaining about his botched strategy. He was in the right on that, though his temper was hotter than his tyres. His mood had darkened from the moment he went off three abreast at the opening corner.

'OK, so you can just drive people off the track then,' he raged. 'You can tell the FIA that's how we're going to race from now onwards. Just driving people off the road.'

Last one: Verstappen had not previously failed to win for three consecutive races for two-and-half years. He was complaining he couldn't turn his car. Are the wheels falling off at Red Bull? If so, McLaren must keep their heads.