Lando Norris admits he was on the brink of defying the McLaren team order that ended up allowing his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri to win a controversial Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris took eight points out of Max Verstappen's championship lead after the Dutchman - who again collided with old foe Lewis Hamilton - could finish only fifth.
But Norris will depart the sizzling Hungaroring pondering if McLaren's instruction to move aside for Piastri could end up costing him his maiden world championship.
Norris is 76 points behind Verstappen, but he would have headed to next weekend's Belgian Grand Prix 69 behind the Red Bull driver if McLaren had allowed him to win here.
For his part, Norris, 24, said he only had himself to blame. A mediocre start from the pole man allowed Piastri to take the lead.
But Norris was handed an apparent lifeline when McLaren stopped him for fresh rubber two laps earlier than his team-mate on lap 45.
McLaren's call - which they claimed was to cover off third-placed Hamilton - propelled Norris into first place, but it was decided Piastri, who had been in control of the race up until that point, should be handed his maiden win.
Following a series of heated exchanges between driver and team, Norris eventually relinquished his near-six-second lead on the 68th lap of 70.
"You don't need to say anything," he promptly said over the radio.
"Things are always going to go through your head because you have to be selfish in this sport and you have to think of yourself as priority number one," said Norris an hour after the chequered flag.
"But I am also a team player so my mind was going pretty crazy. The gap between me and Max is pretty big but if Red Bull and Max made the mistakes like they did today, and, as a team we continue to improve, we can turn it (the championship) around.
"Yes, it is a big goal to say I can close 70 points in half a season. But you think of the seven points I gave away today, and that crosses your mind for sure.
"It was not easy but I understood the situation and I was quite confident by the last lap I would do it."
Did Norris believe his team made the wrong decision?
"No," he said. "I didn't lose the win. I lost if off the line. I had a terrible start, a bad start. Something happened on my second shift and I lost momentum. I didn't deserve to win.
"But I got put into the lead, rather than wanting to be there. That was a mistake. We made things way too hard for ourselves.
"We should have stopped Oscar first and we wouldn't even be having this discussion. We need to talk about that.
"But after my start, I should not have had those points in my hand in the first place so the team were right and I stand by what they did."
