World champion Lando Norris has apologised to his McLaren team after a final-lap collision with stablemate Oscar Piastri wrecked their pursuit of a podium finish at a chaotic Singapore Grand Prix sprint race.
The McLaren duo were chasing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was struggling with his tyres in the dying stages of the 20-lap sprint, when disaster struck on the final lap.
Norris, running fifth behind Piastri in fourth, attempted to overtake his teammate but clipped the Australian’s rear tyre with his front wheel, sending both cars spinning and handing Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli fourth place.
“Sorry about that. Obviously, I didn’t want that to happen, but I thought I was fully alongside. I just ran out of space at the apex, but I was there,” Norris said over the team radio.
While Norris limped home to eighth place to claim the final point available, Piastri was forced to retire as he became one of nine cars that did not finish — a record number of retirements for a Formula 1 sprint race.
“I’d rather just go back and review it,” Norris told Sky Sports.
“I apologised to them that one of the cars is out but, like I said, the rest of it we’ll go review.”
Elsewhere Norris suggested he was entitled “to go for a big gap” because everyone should be fighting for places in a competitive race.
“What’s the title of the race?” he asked an interviewer who implied his move on the inside was “unnecessary”.
“What’s after ‘sprint’?”
When the interviewer replied “race”, he laughed and sarcastically said: “Wow, good job”.
Piastri said he had not seen the incident properly to comment but downplayed its significance as they were not in high points scoring positions.
“From where I sit, it’s for fourth and fifth for a sprint race, so I’m not that bothered either way,” Piastri said.
“Just obviously it’s a lot of work now for the team to get both cars fixed [ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s race]. Just a shame for the team.”
Both McLaren drivers were summoned to the stewards after the collision.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the sprint and the Dutchman leapfrogged Norris to climb to fifth in the world championship standings.
Verstappen also took pole for the main race in Singapore ahead of Leclerc, with Norris fifth and Piastri seventh.
Reuters/ABC
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