Lando Norris has admitted that he was hit with “repercussions” over his first-lap clash with Oscar Piastri at the start of Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
The Brit muscled his way past his team-mate and chief title rival in the first few corners of the race at the Marina Bay Circuit, which helped him to an eventual third-place finish.
Norris’ manoeuvre angered Piastri, who launched into a furious radio exchange with his engineer, a mood exacerbated by the stewards’ decision to take no further action, prompting the team’s stance to act likewise.
The incident sparked predictable media speculation, focused on the potential damaging of McLaren’s tight-knit ‘team-first’ mentality instilled into both its drivers.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Norris confessed that the post-race debrief resulted in the Brit being squarely given the blame for the clash.
“The team held me accountable for what happened, which I think is fair,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“And then we made progress from there on, on understanding what the repercussions were for myself to, let’s say definitely avoid anything worse happening than what did.
“Because it’s like I said, back after Singapore, this is the last thing I want is something like that to happen, to cause these kind of controversial talks after a race.
“And at the same time, I put just as much risk on me putting myself out of the race as I do whoever I’m racing against, whether it’s Oscar or anyone else, so it’s clearly something I want to avoid.”
McLaren handling of Singapore incident proves ‘why we’re stronger than everyone else’
Norris intimated that the incident, as was his race-ending prang with Piastri in Canada, was very much out of character for him and believes that the team’s approach to dealing with these unwanted moments proves its strength as opposed to any other team on the gird.
“It’s been one of my strengths since coming into Formula 1 is avoiding contact in general and keeping myself in the race and those kinds of things.
“But yeah, I think one thing we’ve always done good as a team is using and progressing with the framework that we have to allow both of us as drivers to trust, let’s say each other, and the team.
“And that’s a lot of the reason for, why we’re a stronger team than everyone else.”
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