McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed that both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were handed a stern warning after their last-lap collision in the Formula 1 Sprint Race in Singapore.
Running fourth and fifth in the 20-lap prelude to Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, Norris began swarming all over the back of his team.
This culminated in a risky move on a partly damp track with Norris sticking his MCL40 up the inside of the Australian at Turn 5.
Piastri’s sister car was prodded sideways, with both spinning and eventually facing backwards, and almost collected by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson.
Norris got going again and finished eighth for one point, whereas Piastri retired on the spot.
The reigning World Champion apologised for the manoeuvre but also defended the attempt to overtake his teammate, although showed more contrition after the race on Sunday.
Ahead of the race, in which both men finished – coincidentally – fourth and fifth [with Norris the leading car], Brown was approached by Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle on his infamous grid walk.
“I’m going to imagine [there were] some fairly stern words last night to your drivers, who managed to trip over each other,” Brundle commented.
“Oh yeah,” Brown admitted. “That was a ‘don’t do that again.’ And we didn’t say ‘please’. ‘That’s an order’.”
The move cost McLaren eight World Championship points, as the race for ‘best of the rest’ in the Constructors’ Championship hots up between the Woking-based squad, Ferrari and Red Bull.
“Yeah. You can’t have that,” Brown added.
“It was an unnecessary result for the team when a lot of pressure is on, and we’re trying to catch Ferrari and Red Bull’s not far behind.
“We learn from it. I think there are some things they definitely could have done differently. Maybe a few things we could have done a little bit differently. So you learn.”
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