Lando Norris has admitted fault for his first-lap collision with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri during the Singapore Grand Prix, stating that he will face consequences within the team for the incident.
The British driver clipped the rear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at Turn Three before making contact with Piastri, damaging his front wing in the process. Despite the early setback, Norris recovered to finish third, just ahead of Piastri in fourth, at the race held on 5 October.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Norris said, “The team held me accountable for what happened, which I think is fair.” He added that internal discussions followed to understand the consequences and ensure such situations are avoided in future.
Neither Norris nor McLaren disclosed the specific repercussions. However, Norris was clear that such incidents must be avoided. “The last thing I want is something like that to happen. To cause this kind of controversial talks after a race,” he said.
He also stressed that the risk he took affected both himself and others on track. “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,” he said.
After the contact, Piastri was heard on team radio asking if McLaren were “cool with Lando barging me out of the way.” No action was taken by the team during the race, but both drivers later acknowledged the issue.
McLaren’s internal policy on team racing centres on one key rule: avoid crashing with your team-mate. Piastri echoed this, saying the incident was “not how we want to go racing” and confirmed that both Norris and the team had accepted responsibility.
Norris added, “The simple answer is there was contact between the two cars. And that’s something that we always want to avoid. The rule is to not crash with each other.”
He described the incident as minor but acknowledged the need to prevent even small clashes. “This wasn’t a crash. It was something much smaller. But we still don’t even want to get it to that point, because it causes these kinds of things. And that’s never a good thing,” he said.
He also praised the team’s approach to managing such situations, saying that the trust between drivers and the team has helped McLaren become stronger overall.
Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was asked in Austin whether he believed McLaren were favouring Norris. He initially responded with a laugh and said, “Absolutely… Yep.” When later asked for clarification, a Red Bull PR representative said Verstappen had been joking.
Verstappen added, “I honestly don’t know. I don’t care also. It has nothing to do with me. They do whatever they think is right and they are doing a very good job of it being so quick.”
Piastri dismissed any suggestion of internal bias, saying, “I’m very happy that there’s no favouritism or bias.”
