Lando Norris reveals that he was held responsible for the Lap 1 contact in Singapore with undisclosed repercussions, as Oscar Piastri doesn’t see any favouritism.
Post the happenings in Singapore, McLaren’s Norris revealed that he was held accountable for the Lap 1 incident against teammate Piastri, when speaking with media in Austin. The Brit took blame, while explaining why the blame was put on him due to contact with teammate.
The basic rule is for teammates to not make contact at any cost. Even in the case of Singapore, where Norris was caught out by Max Verstappen, the Brit had to be cautious. The title contender noted of repercussions, but did not disclose them when asked by the media.
He said it was for them and not for media. But both Norris and Piastri didn’t think they need any changes in how they race. They feel the rules are in place already and they will continue to fight each other like they have been, provided there is no contact between the two racers.
With the blame on Norris, Piastri acknowledged that it is always difficult in live situation to handle these things and he doesn’t thinks that every topic can be readdressed. He feels there is no favouritism towards the Brit and that if there is a justifiable reasons for a team’s call, it is fine and understood.
Both Norris and Piastri responded to Verstappen’s note about McLaren’s handling of such matter and trying the fair racing route as much, without the need of segregating and naming a #1 and #2 driver. The Australian also ruled out nationality to be a factor, considering the Aussie vs British battle.
Blame –
Norris: “What are they? Well, that’s got nothing to do with you guys. Yeah, of course there were talks. That was inevitable. The team held me accountable for what happened, which I think is fair. Then we made progress from there on understanding what the repercussions were for myself. To avoid anything worse happening than what did. Like I said, back after Singapore, the last thing I want is something like that to happen, to cause this kind of controversial talks after the 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. It’s been one of my strengths since coming into Formula One is avoiding contact in general. And keeping myself in the race and those kind of things. I think one thing we’ve always done good 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. That’s a lot of the reason for why we’re a stronger team than everyone else.”
Piastri: “Yeah, we had a lot of discussions as you would expect. Yeah, very productive. 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. So, Lando’s taken responsibility for that and so has the team. So, yeah, I think it’s quite clear for us as a team that how lap one unfolded wasn’t how we want to go racing and, yeah.”
Repercussions –
Norris: “Yeah, let’s say I think sometimes repercussions are not positive. But at the same time it’s clear that the interest for Andrea is preserving the positive teamwork that we have, 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 leadership, Zak’s leadership. And having these talks that…I don’t know what’s happened to other teams in the past. What Lewis and Rosberg had and those kind of things. But yeah, Andrea’s number one priority is preserving the morale and the framework that we set out. 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, how he wants to preserve the greatness of a team that we have at the minute.
“Well, I think that the simple answer is there was contact between the two cars. And that’s something that we always want to avoid. The role 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 kind 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 going to let go of an opportunity like, you know, there was a gap and I went for it and what happened happened. But nothing, let’s say, changes from how we go racing. It’s just we and the team want to avoid those kind of things happening again. And simply for the reason was there was contact between two McLaren cars. And yeah, Zak and Andrea doesn’t want that to happen. And I think as teammates, we don’t want that to happen. So, of course, that’s the reasoning for why I was held accountable.”
Outside opinion of fair tray, Verstappen –
Max Verstappen: “Absolutely! Someone… I don’t know, I heard something… Does it help me? I don’t know. I mean, I honestly don’t know. I don’t care also, because it has nothing to do with me—what they decide, of course, within the team—how they operate as a team. I mean, they do whatever they think is right, and they’re doing a very good job at it—being this quick and what they’ve done over the last few years.
“For me, what’s important is that when we get to the racetrack, we just maximise our potential. And as long as we can do that, then it’s in our control. Of course, if you look at the whole season, we didn’t have a great start to it. But I just approach every race weekend trying to maximize everything we can, try to win races, and that’s the only thing we can do until the end.”
Norris: “Because I think that’s just your opinion on the outside. I think if I was on the outside, I would probably have a similar opinion and outlook on those kind of things. But internally, it’s pretty simple. You think there’s these big amount of rules. There’s not. There’s very little. And it’s very simple. People like to talk about it a lot and bring it up a lot and say it’s this and that. It’s quite a small amount of things. And it’s very simple. And it’s stuff that I think we always understand. But like Andrea says a lot of the time, we still always have the right to question it.
“We’re never going to just go around. I think it’s just a racing driver’s mind. And be happy to accept whatever the team wants to do or what they think is correct. Always, from my side, Oscar’s side, we’re always going to question it, even if it is one-sided or not. So yeah, I understand that. A lot of people have different opinions and think maybe other things are correct. But I still stand by the fact that I think and I’m confident that Andreas and Oscar and all of us together are confident that our approach is better than what other people say.”
Favoritism, handling –
Piastri: “I don’t think so no. I think every driver wants a fair chance to try and win a championship and, yeah, I think for me it’s more than fair to let us both keep fighting for that. So, no, I don’t think that’s the approach we should take. Yeah, I’m very happy with that. I think for me, again, we analysed the incident and there has been responsibility placed on Lando ultimately in that collision. But I’m very happy that there’s no favouritism or bias.”
No change in racing, can’t go back on live things –
Piastri: “No, nothing’s going to change. I think it’s just clear that we kind of have that framework in place anyways and, you know, that’s how we’re expected to go racing. So, nothing’s going to change because of what happened in Singapore. I mean, in a live situation, it’s very, very difficult to analyse that and, you know, also assessing whether swapping would have been the right thing to do in that scenario is very tough. So, we’ve sat through it and talked through it kind of out of the heat of the moment and discussed what happened with a few more points of data and stuff like that.
“So, ultimately, I don’t think you can really say what would have been fair to do in the race, but ultimately, the responsibility has been put on Lando after it. Not necessarily, no. I think the only thing I would say is it’s not always clear immediately, in the car or in the race, kind of what all the reasoning for certain decisions is, but I think it’s always been very clear afterwards why certain decisions have been taken and why things have been done in a certain way. So, for me, I don’t think it is overcomplicated, no. I think everything has had a justifiable reason.”
Every case can’t be readdressed –
Piastri: “Yeah, I would say I’m not expecting it to be redressed on track at any time or every time, but ultimately, we know how we’re expected to go racing and if we don’t, there’s consequences for that. So, yeah, I think for me, I’m not going to change anything in how I go racing. I think it’s clear to me. I don’t think what happened was purposeful or I think it was just a slight misjudgment, but ultimately, I’m not going to change how I go racing because of that.”
Nationality is not a factor, how things as leader in championship –
Piastri: “I think the nationality doesn’t really make much difference. If it was someone from a different country, it’d be the same thing. I think as Aussies and Englishmen in sport, there’s always a lot of rivalry. Whether it’s F1, cricket, I would say football, but not quite a fair match on that one. Rugby, there’s always that rivalry there. Obviously, I know the fans are going to buy into that a lot. For me, it doesn’t matter who I’m racing against. I’m always going to try and go out there and beat everyone I’m up against. That’s no different in this scenario.
“I think going into the year, I would have been pretty happy if I was in this position. I think there’s ultimately no position I would rather be in. There’s obviously things through the year that I wish I’d have gone a bit differently or I had have done differently, but that’s in both directions. Things that have gone in my favour, things that haven’t If you had to ask me at the start of the year, would you believe you’d be in this position? I probably would have believed it, but I would have been pretty stoked, honest to that.”
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Here’s McLaren on Singapore GP