Norris’ eight-word reaction to Piastri’s collision at the Brazilian GP

Lando Norris quipped to Kimi Antonelli that he has to “thank Charles” after the Ferrari driver got caught up in the crash between Antonelli and Oscar Piastri that earned the McLaren driver a penalty.

Antonelli joined race winner Norris in the cooldown room after the Brazilian Grand Prix having brought his Mercedes across the line in second place to net his second podium result as a Formula 1 driver.

Lando Norris’ reaction to Oscar Piastri’s crash

As racing resumed on lap 6 after a Safety Car period for Gabriel Bortoleto’s lap 1 crash, Antonelli, Leclerc and Piastri lined up behind Norris, who left it late to go and had bunched up the field.

Piastri tried a move up the inside of Antonelli at Turn 1 but ran out of room as the Mercedes driver turned into the corner with Leclerc on his outside.

Piastri and Antonelli bounced off one another, the latter pushed into Leclerc. The impact stripped the Ferrari’s front-left tyre, putting Leclerc into retirement as he wasn’t able to get back to the pits.

Piastri was hit with a 10-second time penalty for being “wholly responsible” for the collision.

Norris caught the collision as the race’s highlights were played out on the screen in the cooldown room.

He turned to Antonelli: “Oh my god. You have to thank Charles!”

Antonelli replied: “Yeah, poor guy.”

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Thanking Leclerc may not go down to well just yet as while the Ferrari driver isn’t angry with Piastri nor Antonelli, he believes both drivers – not just Piastri – were to blame for his race-ending crash.

“Oscar was optimistic,” Leclerc explained, “but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, I think, and he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there.

“For me the blame is not all on Oscar. Yes, it was optimistic, but this could have been avoided. I’m frustrated.

“At the end of the day I’m not angry with Oscar or Kimi, these things happen, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was all Oscar’s fault. I don’t think it is.”

Antonelli, though, defended himself during the post-race press conference as he revealed he couldn’t see Piastri and just took the best line for the corner.

“I found myself in a very difficult position,” he said, “because I had one car on the outside and one car on the inside.

“I tried to brake late, not too late. The problem is I didn’t see the car next to me anymore. I still tried to do a decent line for the position I was in. And yeah, ended up getting hit.

“I was lucky to come away like that, because obviously I hit quite hard Charles. Unfortunately, I ended his race.”

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