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Lando Norris revealed that he has faced the consequences for crashing into his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri at the start of the race. Although he didn't spare any details of the same, it is understood to be a warning of sorts from the team, which could see the two drivers switch places in a similar offense in the future.
The Singapore GP got off to a controversial start in the McLaren garage as Norris overtook his team-mate heading into the third lap. However, he had slight contact with Max Verstappen and then with Oscar Piastri, after which the latter suggested that the drivers should change places due to the nature of the overtaking.
Speaking to the media ahead of the US Grand Prix, Lando Norris revealed that he was held responsible for the incident.
“Of course there were conversations. That was inevitable. The team held me accountable for what happened, which I think is fair,” Norris said. “Then we moved forward from there in understanding what the repercussions were for me and to prevent something … let's say definitely prevent something worse from happening than what happened.”
The escalation of the matter between the colleagues was related to the already infamous “Papaya Rules”. There had been several circumstances in previous races where drivers were asked to switch places. Most famously, Oscar Piastri was asked to relinquish his position to Lando Norris during the 2025 Italian GP after the latter faced a slow pit stop.
“It's been one of my strong points,” says Lando Norris, who avoids contact during the race
Lando Norris made his F1 debut with McLaren in the 2019 season and although he had been a promising driver since his younger racing days, the team did not provide him with a competitive enough car to challenge for wins. With the team's overall performance vastly improving last year, they took their first race win and are currently in contention for the World Championship.
Although he has made many mistakes throughout his journey so far in F1, he has not clashed with drivers very often. One notable contact was during this year's Canadian GP when he tried to overtake on the last lap, causing him to crash at the end of the race.
Highlighting his “strength” in not crashing into other drivers, Lando Norris said:
“It's been one of my strengths since I got into Formula 1, is to avoid contact in general and stay in the race and that sort of thing,” added Norris.
“I think one thing we've always done well as a team is use and progress with the framework that we have to allow both of us as drivers to trust each other and the team. And that's a big part of why we're a stronger team than all of them.”
There is currently a 22-point gap separating the two teammates as they battle for this season's World Championship. Oscar Piastri leads, but Lando Norris has been closing the gap massively in recent races.
Edited by Gunaditya Tripathi
