Lando Norris ‘held accountable’ for Piastri clash as McLaren ‘consequences’ emerge

Lando Norris has revealed that McLaren held him accountable for the first-lap clash in Singapore between him and Oscar Piastri, and that there are “repercussions”.

Norris took advantage of a small gap left open by Piastri at the start in Singapore, with a move that resulted in the two McLarens making contact and causing minor damage to Norris’ MCL39.

Lando Norris: McLaren talks held me accountable for Singapore clash

The contact between the two McLaren drivers was clearly inadvertent, largely caused by Norris tapping the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and correcting into the side of Piastri’s car, but the British driver chose not to cede position to the Australian.

While Piastri took to team radio to ask about whether McLaren was “cool with Lando barging me out of the way”, Norris set off up the road and, with McLaren choosing not to intervene, Piastri was left annoyed by the decision as he labeled it “unfair” over team radio.

While tensions had calmed by the time the chequered flag fell, with Norris and Piastri taking third and fourth respectively to clinch the team’s second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, it was clear an intense team debrief awaited McLaren once the heat of the weekend had dissipated.

While McLaren had opted against any sort of scolding of Norris during the Grand Prix, as well as team boss Andrea Stella remaining extremely diplomatic towards his drivers when he spoke to the media afterward, Piastri revealed to PlanetF1.com and other accredited media at the United States Grand Prix that the British driver had taken responsibility for the contact.

“We had a lot of discussions, as you would expect, and very productive,” he said.

“I think we’re very clear on how we want to go racing as a team, and that includes going forward, and the incident we had in Singapore isn’t how we want to go racing.

“Lando has taken responsibility for that and so have the team, so I think it’s quite clear for us as a team that how Lap 1 unfolded wasn’t how we want to go racing.”

With Norris speaking to the media moments later, he was asked about the potential ramifications for him for the contact between the two cars.

Norris bluntly replied, “That’s got nothing to do with you guys [the media],” as he kicked off his session.

“Of course, there were talks; that was inevitable.

“The team held me accountable for what happened, which I think is fair, and then we made progress from there on understanding what the repercussions were for me and on avoiding something, let’s say, definitely avoiding anything worse happening than what did.

“This is the last thing I want, something like that to happen to cause these kinds of controversial talks after a race.

“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.”

Asked to elaborate on the repercussion, Norris chose not to, but confirmed “there are consequences”.

Norris’ opportunistic move on Piastri could be viewed as having been borderline, and the resulting contact was in breach of the established ‘papaya rules’ that have governed the way Norris and Piastri race each other, with the main target of these rules being to avoid contact between the two cars.

“It’s been one of my strengths since coming into Formula 1, avoiding contact in general, and keeping myself in the race, and those kinds of things,” Norris said.

“But I think one thing we’ve always done well as a team is using and progressing with the framework that we have to allow both of us as drivers to trust each other and the team, and that’s a lot of the reason why we’re a stronger team than everyone else.”

Given that the FIA stewards didn’t view the incident as being worthy of investigation or punishment, and the team didn’t point the finger at him on the day itself, Norris was asked why he felt he had been held accountable in the aftermath.

“I think that the simple answer is that there was contact between the two cars, and that’s something that we always want to avoid,” he said.

“Let’s say the rule is not to crash with each other. This wasn’t a crash; it was something much, much smaller, but we still don’t even want to get it to that point, because it causes these kinds of things, and that’s never a good thing.

“So we want to avoid anything like we had in Singapore. But I think, in the end, the understanding is that it’s racing and it’s difficult to always be perfect. I didn’t want what happened to happen, but I’m never gonna let go of an opportunity like there was.

“There was a gap, and I went for it, and what happened happened, but nothing changes from how we go racing.

“It’s just that we and the team want to avoid those kinds of things happening again. Simply, the reason was that there was contact between two McLaren cars, and Zak [Brown] and Andrea didn’t want that to happen. As teammates, we don’t want that to happen.

“So that’s the reason why I was held accountable.”

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Lando Norris: Andrea Stella’s priority is in preserving positivity

It’s not the first time there have been intensive discussions following the events of a Grand Prix this year, with McLaren attempting to manage the championship situation between its two drivers as fairly as possible.

Piastri has a 22-point lead over Norris as the season enters its final quarter, with Max Verstappen a dark horse with a 63-point deficit. Both Norris and Piastri are chasing their maiden Drivers’ Championship titles and of a similar age, and McLaren has done its best not to play favourites as the pair duel for the crown.

In Canada, Norris misjudged an attempted move on Piastri in the closing stages, resulting in eliminating himself from the race as Piastri was fortunate to survive the clash. That also resulted in talks, but Norris’ attitude of contrition and immediate acceptance of responsibility ensured the matter didn’t escalate the situation into tension and hostility.

That’s been a key target of McLaren through this intra-team battle, ensuring the fight doesn’t devolve, and Norris opened up on how the clear approach taken by team boss Andrea Stella has helped maintain that peace.

“Sometimes, repercussions are not positive, but, at the same time, it’s clear that the interest for Andrea is in preserving the positive teamwork that we have,” he said, of trying to take the positives out of the negatives.

“You know, the teamwork that’s allowed us to go from being last on the grid a few years ago to being the best performing team, and also just having two drivers that challenge each other more than any other team on the grid.

“When you’re fighting for wins between those two drivers, then, of course, you’re going to have trickier moments. But I think the reason we’ve been able to deal with things well on both sides is because of Andrea’s and Zak’s leadership in having these talks.

“I don’t know what’s happened to all the teams in the past, and what Lewis [Hamilton] and [Nico] Rosberg had [at Mercedes in 2016], and those kinds of things.

“But Andrea’s number one priority is preserving the morale and the framework that we set out, and I’ve been part of for many years, but especially over the last couple of years since Andrea stepped into his position of being team principal, and how he wants to preserve the greatness of the team that we have at the moment.”

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