Norris Regrets Colliding With Piastri At Canadian Grand Prix
Lando Norris has expressed disappointment at the collision with his teammate Oscar Piastri on the track at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The British driver ran into the back of Piastri as they aimed to finish the race which was won by George Russell.
According to reports, Norris, with the use of the DRS overtaking aid giving him a straight-line speed advantage, clipped the back of Piastri’s car as he tried to grab the inside line into Turn One.
But Piastri had not left the space for the move to come off. Norris’ front wing and right-front wheel hit the back of the rival McLaren and broke his suspension. Piastri was able to continue without damage.
The costly mistake has left him 22 points behind Piastri in the race for the championship.
He was disappointed with the collision while regretting the loss of points.
Norris said: “I didn’t expect to pass Oscar on the outside into Turn One. It’s just, I should never have gone for it, I guess it is my complete hindsight thing.
“I thought he was starting to drift a little bit to the right, so I thought I had a small opportunity to go to the left. But it was way too much risk, especially on my team-mate.
“So, happy nothing happened to him. I paid the price for my mistake.
“Our rule number one is to not make contact with your team-mate and it’s what I did. McLaren is my family. I race for them, you know, every single weekend. I try and do well for them, more than I often try and do well for myself.
“So, when I let them down like this and when I make a fool of myself in a moment like today, yeah, I have a lot of regrets.
“I’ve let down the team. So, that’s going to stay with me for a little while. But at the same time, part of moving on is trying to put it behind you and crack on with it next weekend.”
George Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix for his first victory of the year while Max Verstappen finished second, Andrea Antonelli came third, and Oscar Piastri finished fourth.
Russell was delighted to win his first race of the season, saying he is driving better than ever.
He said: “It feels a bit of a redemption compared to last year because I was really disappointed with my performance last year and we should have won.
“It was my mistakes that let the team down but I’m in a different place right now and I feel like I’m driving better than ever. I felt pretty chilled throughout the whole race.
“I don’t know how both Max and I are so close to those two (Piastri and Norris) in the championship because McLaren clearly have the dominant car.
“I cannot imagine they will keep throwing away points in the manner that they are doing, but of course, we hope that continues to be the case.”
He has been with Mercedes since the 2022 season and is out of his contract at the end of the season.
Russell is fourth in the drivers’ championship, 62 points behind leader Piastri with Verstappen 19 points ahead of him in third.
Norris Regrets Colliding With Piastri At Canadian Grand Prix is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
