Oscar Piastri has become the fifth Australian to win a Formula 1 grand prix, taking the chequered flag for McLaren in Hungary.

The Melbourne-born driver beat Lando Norris in second and Lewis Hamilton in third.

It was not smooth sailing for Piastri, who had his win threatened by Norris after McLaren gave the Briton the preferential pit strategy under the promise they would swap positions before the end of the race. 

But as Norris took the lead, following the preferential treatment from his team, he started denying team orders to slow the pace and etched out a gap to Piastri. 

"Yeah, well tell him to catch up then please," Norris said over the radio when told he needed to allow Oscar through.

Will Joseph, Norris's engineer, pleaded for him to slow down and let his Australian teammate pass with three laps to go.

"If there's a safety car now it's gonna make this very awkward," Joseph said.

"Please do it now."

"The way to win a championship is not by yourself, it's with the team. You're going to need Oscar and you're going to need the team," Joseph added.

Piastri got himself in a position to earn the team orders, after he got past his teammate off the start and led after the first turn.

Piaistri was brilliant for the opening half of the race, but a hairy moment when he went off-track on lap 34 of 70, gave Norris a sniff at the win. 

But the Brit obeyed McLaren's begging and allowed Piastri to win. 

"It's tough, but I know what Oscar's done for me in the past," Norris said.

"It's always tough when you're fighting for a win and a win means so much to me, and also to him.

"I just had to try put myself in his shoes and understand it that way. Every driver's selfish, you have to be selfish in this game. … I realised I had to do what was right."

In fairness, had Piastri been given the preferential pit strategy he most likely would have won comfortably.

"Very, very special. This is the day I dreamed of as a kid, standing on the top step of the podium," Piastri said.

"A bit complicated at the end, but I put myself in a good position off the start.

"[The car] is a beast at the moment, fast in every condition."

Piastri made the perfect start off the line and was alongside polesitter Norris as they headed for the first turn.

With the inside line, Piaistri took the lead while Red Bull champion Max Verstappen ran off the track at the opening turn and moved past Norris into second place.

Red Bull ordered Verstappen to give Norris second place as the stewards began investigating the Dutchman for gaining an advantage off-track.

As the race settled into a rhythm, Piastri, who won the F1 sprint race in Qatar last season, maintained a three-second lead over Norris, while Verstappen was a further two seconds behind.

Lewis Hamilton, from fourth, pitted at the end of lap 16 to try and perform an undercut on those ahead.

Norris, from second, responded a lap later and the Piastri pitted from the lead at the end of lap 18.

Meanwhile, Red Bull kept Verstappen out as the world champions opted to have fresher tyres at the end of the race. Verstappen came in at the end of lap 21, with the Dutchman coming out behind Piastri, Norris and Hamilton.

Out in front, Piastri looked assured in the lead as he pushed out an advantage over Norris and Hamilton.

Verstappen started his charge back to the podium positions, using his tyre advantage to close in on Hamilton.

But the Australian had a nervous moment on lap 34, going off track and having his four-second lead over Norris halved.

Norris began to narrow the gap as each lap went by, with Piastri's lead down to 1.6 seconds on lap 40 of 70.

Further back, Hamilton and Verstappen squabbled over third place as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc joined the fight.

Hamilton and Leclerc pitted at the end of lap 40, while Verstappen stayed out with the tyre advantage.