After McLaren crash in the Sprint: Reprimand for Formula 1 champion Lando Norris

A murmur rippled through the press room in Singapore as the two McLaren team-mates, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, spun simultaneously on the final lap of the Sprint race. What had happened? Norris was trying to snatch fourth place from his team-mate and was perhaps a little over-optimistic in his approach. Piastri came off worse, because whilst the Formula 1 champion was able to carry on and salvage a final point at the finish, the mini-race was over for the Australian.

Team principal Andrea Stella had strong words for the unnecessary crash, which the stewards examined closely but decided against penalising, as neither of the two team-mates could be clearly blamed for the unfortunate collision. Not everyone agreed with the stewards’ decision.

For example, former Grand Prix driver and current ‘Sky Sports F1’ TV pundit Martin Brundle said: “McLaren will be annoyed about this incident on the final sprint lap. After all, it wouldn’t have made any difference to the team who finished fourth and who finished fifth.” And he added: “That wasn’t clever of Lando,”

The Briton is certain the move wasn’t worth the risk. “What was Oscar supposed to do? I know they’re racing drivers, but it simply wasn’t worth the risk just to gain one more point and swap positions.”

Confession from Formula 1 World Champion Lando Norris

Norris initially showed no sign of remorse; although he apologised to the team over the radio, after the chequered flag came down he defiantly declared that his move was justified. Over the radio, he had said: “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that, of course, but I thought I was alongside him. I ran out of space, but I was level with him.”

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However, when he spoke later on Saturday after qualifying and discussions with Piastri and the McLaren management, he said in an interview with ‘Sky Sports F1’: “We’ve all talked about it as a team. I’ve apologised, but that’s all you need to know.” When ‘Sky Italia’ asked for details of the conversation, he admitted: “I was given a telling-off.”