FIA stewards face scrutiny as Lando Norris triggers two-part Singapore GP clash

It was an eventful start to the Singapore Grand Prix for Lando Norris, who found himself colliding with Max Verstappen and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

While the contact was not enough to derail any of the trio, Piastri was left upset with what he deemed a “pretty **** job at avoiding” contact from Norris, and the fact that McLaren did not swap the drivers back around as Norris came through into P3. The stewards also took no further action, but Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson felt Norris warranted at least a black-and-white flag.

No further action: Right verdict on Lando Norris at Singapore GP?

After giving Verstappen a tap from behind, Norris was swiftly jolted to the right, banging wheels with Piastri in the sister McLaren. It was an incident which the stewards let slide.

Analysing the collision on Sky F1, Anthony Davidson – a former Minardi, Honda and SuperAguri racer – placed the blame on Norris.

He said: “We’ve gone back to this Turn 1, Turn 2, and we’re just about to see Piastri look into the mirror. He starts to look in the mirror, so he knows where his teammate is now. And because of that, he then lets the car drift out much wider than where Verstappen is in front of him.

“So now Lando is finding himself, he’s going to be in this slightly compromised position as he’s in this closing v, where he doesn’t want to really be in. He wanted to kind of be closer to the right, to then get yourself straighter for the braking.

“Remember that the tyres have only got the 100 per cent maximum of grip potential, if you’re in a straight line. You can use all of that 100 per cent grip potential in braking, but as soon as you add in cornering and braking, you have some of your 100 per cent potential robbed from the lateral forces as well.

“So that’s why you find it harder to brake and turn at the same time. And that’s what he’s finding himself in, this position, now. He’s still turning. He really wants to have the car straight, but Oscar knows he’s there, so he’s giving him space.

“Lando finally gets the car straight. Now, you can use maximum force or energy from the tyre. But, the problem is here, he’s got Verstappen going slower in that corner, as we’ve seen before from his onboard, and these two are racing each other into this closing space.

“Verstappen is unaware of that, so he’s just taking his own time in that corner, as we know, and the race carries on.

“Look how much Oscar has caught Verstappen, albeit on the outside of the track. So that’s proof that they are, and rightly so, they’re racing each other, but when you’re fighting in this very narrow space like this and where Lando is, you’re talking really fine margins here.

“To judge that on the braking pedal for both these drivers is incredibly hard, no matter who you are. Even if you were Verstappen, you’d be finding this very difficult right now. But Lando has taken that risk. He’s taken that chance, and he’s, at the moment, got the space from his teammate alongside him.

“The problem then comes from the fact that he can’t slow it down enough, because Verstappen is going slower in front, and they’re racing into that gap, and contact is made, and when contact is made to Verstappen, you see Lando’s steering wheel [jerk] there. Now, he’s in trouble.

“But Oscar doesn’t quite know that. He just feels like, ‘Well, I’m just getting pushed out wide here, even further until the two of them hit each other.’

“And it’s pretty hard when you look at Piastri’s head there, the hit that he took. And the reason it happens is because Lando’s obviously already ran into the back of Verstappen.

“Piastri is very lucky that he didn’t end up in the barrier there. We’ve seen, I think it was two Force India’s many years ago, actually end up in the barrier there with even worse contact.

“So that explains, hopefully, why it happened. It wasn’t malicious at all from Lando. It was audacious. It was brave. I’m glad he made that move. Was it more his fault? Yes, it was. He made two points of contact, the back of the Red Bull and his teammate. So the cause of contact is Lando Norris, but they’re racing each other.

“The problem with this circuit is, as we saw, he can’t overtake, so it’s all done here in this one moment, and the pressure’s on them to get the job done here.”

Pondering whether McLaren’s decision of an internal review prompted the lack of action from the stewards, Davidson felt Norris got off lightly.

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“I’m surprised Lando didn’t come away with a reprimand, with just a black and white flag, at least,” said Davidson.

“But maybe the fact that they’re teammates and the team will take care of it themselves, internally, maybe that’s the reason. It shouldn’t be, but maybe that’s how the stewards looked at this particular one.

“But I’m surprised that Lando didn’t come away with at least a black and white flag for that.”

Verstappen ultimately crossed the line second ahead of Norris and Piastri. Mercedes’ George Russell claimed his second win of the season.

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