McLaren to talk internally after "simply not acceptable" Norris-Piastri clash

The McLaren team principal has expressed his severe disappointment with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri colliding in Formula 1's Singapore Grand Prix sprint

On the final lap of a wet 20-lap sprint, Lando Norris made a lunge on Oscar Piastri on the inside of Turn 5, unsuccessfully backing out of a closing gap and striking his McLarne team-mate's right-rear corner.

The tangle sent both cars into a spin, with Piastri eliminated and sustaining severe damage to the rear of his MCL40 and Norris dropping down to eighth at the finish. The stewards summoned both drivers, but decided not to take further action because "the stewards considered that both drivers had contributed to the incident and that neither driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision.

Be that as it may, it was still a costly and avoidable incident for McLaren, which had to scramble to replace Piastri's gearbox and repair his car - facing a hefty repair bill and losing valuable championship points.

Coming after a series of incidents in 2025, which prompted McLaren to tighten up its rules of engagement, the so-called Papaya Rules, team principal Andrea Stella was not amused with the latest episode between his drivers.

"Seeing two McLarens making contact like that is simply not acceptable," Stella told Sky.

"This is something we will discuss with our drivers, we will do it in private, we will reiterate that team interest is far bigger than any of us. There’s no ego, there’s no person that is bigger than the interest of the McLaren Formula 1 team."

Piastri revealed that Norris had apologised to him and the team about the incident, and subsequently the Australian chose diplomacy when facing the media.

"The biggest thing obviously is we just can't have that happen in terms of the points and also the workload and money," Piastri said.

"It just wasn't a situation that needed to happen, really. So, Lando apologised and we moved on.

"Unfortunately, it's not our first coming together, but I think we're both very good at saying sorry when we need to and moving on, and I think that's what makes us strong as a team."

Norris followed the stewards' reasoning, maintaining that both he and Piastri could have done something differently. "As you probably expect, no one's very happy. I'm not happy. Oscar wasn't happy," Norris said. "None of us wanted to go that way. There were things both of us could have done better. And yeah, we spoke about it and we moved on."

When put to Piastri that the stewards felt he also played a role in the incident, he replied: "I mean, I don't think there was anything massively out of line, but at the same time it's not very smart to try and get each other penalties, is it?"

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story