McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says the team is still talking to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after their collision towards the end of the Singapore Grand Prix sprint. Zak Brown wasn’t as easy on them.
The papaya-coloured team-mates were fighting for fourth on the last lap of the sprint when Norris dived up the inside of Piastri at Turn 5. It was a bullish move from the reigning champion – and one that has come under criticism from pundits since. It resulted in both cars spinning and Piastri’s retirement. Norris recovered to eighth and the stewards took no further action.
Speaking after Sunday’s grand prix, Stella said that the discussions were not about who was to blame, but instead what came from it.
“The conversations that we are having they are not finished, but it’s not because we need to go back discussing if Lando was alongside Oscar – that’s not the interesting bit,” he said.
“For me, the interesting bit is a reflection that all the stakeholders, the team, the drivers will have to make around leading together the team, embracing constantly from inside the cockpit the interest of the team as something that is superior to any particular singular individual interest, and why the conversations from this point of view they are not concluded, and there’s more we can do to become a more united and even stronger team.”
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown weighs in
The McLaren Racing CEO wasn’t as easygoing as his F1 team chief as he talked to Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle on his grand prix grid walk.
“Oh yeah. That was a ‘don’t do that again’. And we didn’t say please. That’s an order,” Brown said.
“It was an unnecessary result for the team when a lot of pressure is on, and we’re trying to catch Ferrari and Red Bull’s not far behind.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Norris accepted the blame
Immediately after the sprint, Norris defended the move, saying “it was a big gap, I went for it, I have the right to do that”, but, by the end of Sunday, his feelings had changed on the move.
“I can’t attempt what I did, I should never have attempted it in the first place, even if the move was on. I simply have to think more about the team that I represent more than myself. It was a mistake on my part, I let down the team. I’ve also apologised to all of them and I owe them all an apology and we’ll do better next time.”
Norris finished the grand prix fourth, with Piastri finishing behind him in fifth.
Red Bull closing in
McLaren is third in the constructors’ standings on 339 points, 105 behind Ferrari and only seven ahead of Red Bull. The United States Grand Prix in Austin will see the tight fight between the teams continue.
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