The McLaren driver, Lando Norris, has been the subject of criticism from former Haas team principal, Guenther Steiner, after an incident with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, during the sprint race of the Singapore Grand Prix.
At a crucial moment in the race, Norris and Piastri made contact on the last lap, when Norris attempted a move to overtake his teammate while they were occupying fourth and fifth positions. This led to both drivers losing control of their cars, resulting in a crash. Piastri was forced to retire, while Norris managed to finish the race in eighth position, thus scoring a point.
Steiner did not hold back his words, stating that Norris’s action was “not a move worthy of a world champion” during his appearance on the Red Flags Podcast. “We shouldn’t be doing this. This was not worthy of a world champion,” he commented.
The McLaren director, Andrea Stella, was praised by Steiner for his handling of the situation. “Andrea is very good in these situations,” he said. “I think he made him feel that he had made a mistake and explained to him that this should not happen. Norris did not apologize for political reasons, but he came to the conclusion that what he did was idiotic… There was no need to do it, especially because of the subsequent reaction.”
Although Norris initially defended his action by saying, “There was a big gap, I’m going for it, I have the right to do it,” he later acknowledged his mistake. “I shouldn’t have tried this in the first place, even if the maneuver was justified,” Norris told F1.com.
“I simply have to think more about the team I represent than about myself. It was my mistake, I let the team down. I’ve already apologized to them and I owe everyone an apology, and we’ll do better next time.”
After the sprint race, both Norris and Piastri managed 22 points in the main race, where they finished fourth and fifth regarding the Grand Prix.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
