Brown confirms McLaren has forgiven Norris and Piastri after Singapore Sprint clash

Zak Brown says McLaren has forgiven its drivers after Lando Norris spun with Oscar Piastri out of the Sprint race at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Not for the first time since becoming McLaren teammates, Norris and Piastri collided while fighting for position.

Zak Brown explains McLaren’s response to Singapore collision

The teammates were racing for fourth place at the Marina Bay circuit when Norris attempted to pass his teammate at Turn 5.

The two collided, pitching both cars into a spin. While Norris recovered to finish eighth and score a solitary point, Piastri was forced to retire.

The reigning world champion was initially bullish about his antics, but later apologised to McLaren.

“I should never have attempted it in the first place, even if the move was on,” he told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.

“I’ve simply got to think more of the team that I represent rather than myself.

“It was a mistake on my part and I let down the team. So I first of all apologise to all of them. I owe them all an apology, and I’ll do better next time.”

McLaren discussed the incident, with Piastri revealing in Austin: “I’ve been happy with how things have been dealt with. I think the team and Zak and Andrea have handled things the way they should have been. So that’s been fine.”

Speaking to Sky Sports during Friday practice at the United States Grand Prix, McLaren CEO Brown confirmed McLaren have moved on from Singapore.

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F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates
F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

According to Brown, all is forgiven: McLaren understands that its drivers are racers and that the collision was not deliberate.

“Of course, we’ve forgiven them,” Brown said.

“They’re racing drivers, these things happen. It wasn’t malicious, and that’s what we really look for. It was racing, and the risk wasn’t worth the rewards.

“Of course, we had those discussions, but I don’t anticipate that happening again. But it certainly wasn’t anything intentional or malicious.

“And if I was going to Vegas, I would say that at some point in the future, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again because they’re racing drivers.

“So you talk about it, talk about what we could have done differently, and you move on, and then you focus on the next race.”

But while the American hopes his drivers won’t tangle again, he concedes that such incidents are part of racing.

“Hope it won’t happen again, but I think it would be naive to think that, at some point, they won’t, as they say, rub,” he said. “It’s racing.

“We move on and, with these sequences of races, you’ve got to forget about last week and get stuck into the next one.”

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