During the final laps of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both strong contenders in the championship, were involved in a crash.
Norris, running in fifth place at the time, attempted a challenging pass on Piastri down the main straight. In the process, his car made contact, hitting the wall and severely damaging his front wing and left rear tire.
The incident immediately forced Norris out of the race, which ultimately concluded under a safety car period. George Russell secured the victory from pole position.
Following the crash, Norris took immediate responsibility over the team radio, stating:
“Sorry. All my bad. All my fault. Stupid from me.”
Speaking to reporters after the event, a dejected Norris acknowledged he had “made a fool of himself” and expressed regret for attempting the risky maneuver.
He explained his thought process, admitting it was poor judgment in hindsight:
“I should never have gone for it, it`s my complete hindsight thing. I thought he was starting to drift a little bit to the right, so there was an opportunity to go the left.”
Norris emphasized the high risk involved, particularly when battling his teammate:
“Way too much risk, especially on my teammate. Happy nothing happened to him, and I paid the price for my mistake.”
Race stewards investigated the collision and subsequently issued Norris a five-second time penalty for causing the crash. However, no penalty points were added to his license.
This incident marked the first time the two McLaren drivers, who are currently closely matched in the championship standings, have collided on track.
Going into the Canadian GP, Piastri held a 10-point lead over Norris in the championship. Following Norris`s retirement from the race, that points advantage has now increased to 22.
