A big incident between McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has finally happened with the pair colliding in the dying stages of the Canadian Grand Prix, won by George Russell pending a late protest by Red Bull.
Norris and Piastri were scrapping for fourth place in Montreal when the Briton overtook the Australian going down the inside of the long back straight.
Piastri ultimately retained his position under braking at the following chicane, but the opportunity was not over.
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Norris had DRS again going up the pit straight and aimed to move up the inside of Piastri into Turn 1 —a gap that was too narrow.
The challenger inevitably ran out of room and crashed into Piastri and the pit wall, losing his front wing and retiring from the race on Lap 67/70.
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Norris, who now trails Piastri by 22 points in the drivers championship, was also summoned to the FIA stewards after the race. The result of their investigation is not yet clear.
Earlier, Norris owned his error over team radio.
“I’m sorry. All my bad. All my fault,” he said.
“Stupid from me.”
Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, he doubled down on his apology.
“No one to blame but myself, so I apologise to the whole team and to Oscar as well for attempting something probably a bit too silly,” Norris said. “Glad I didn’t ruin in his race. In the end apologies to the team.
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“This was just more silly. This wasn’t even like a ‘that’s racing’, it was just silly from my part.”
Piastri said he was yet to see the incident but said he didn’t believe there were any “bad intentions” involved.
“If Lando has taken full responsibility then that’s how it goes, I guess,” Piastri said. “Just a bit of a tricky race in general and not an ideal finish.”
Piastri was able to pit and continue the race without losing a position due to the safety car period that followed.
UGLY POST-RACE SPAT BREWS
Meanwhile, Russell won the race under safety car conditions for Mercedes’ first win of the season, but there is an ugly post script with Red Bull protesting the result.
There is still some doubt over the official race result with Red Bull claiming that Russell should be punished over his driving under the safety car at the end of the race.
“Two protests that we’ve put to the stewards, that we’ve asked them to have a look at,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said.
“Firstly relating to the erratic driving behind the Safety Car, where George very heavily braked, obviously looking in his mirror for Max.
“Then the second one is very clearly the distance that was left behind the Safety Car that was well in excess, I think at least three times in excess, of the permitted distance.
“It’s within our right to obviously protest that, so we’ve lodged the protest, it’s with the stewards now, and we’ll see what they say.”
As of 9.45am AEST, a decision over the protest had not been made.
Russell led rival Max Verstappen and 18-year-old teammate Kimi Antonelli — the third-yougnest podium finisher in F1 history — across the line ahead of Piastri.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth respectively, while the top 10 was rounded out by Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.
Piastri hopes crash won’t alter anything | 02:40
Russell was delighted to deliver his team’s first win since the Las Vegas Grand Prix last year.
“It’s amazing to be back on the top step,” he said. “The last time was Vegas and last year here felt like it was a victory lost. But today we obviously got the victory thanks to that incredible pole lap and I am so happy to see Kimi on the podium as well.”
Verstappen was quick to congratulate both Mercedes drivers.
“It was quite a good race although we were struggling on the tyres in the first two stints,” he said. “We had an aggressive strategy and we managed to hang in there. And this was the maximum possible for us today.”
Antonelli was greeted enthusiastically by the big crowd at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with his name chanted as he took his podium place.
“It was so stressful,” he said. “But I am super happy! I had a good start, managed to jump to P3, and just stayed up there in the front. I am so happy to bring this podium home.”
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– Antonelli overtakes Piastri at start –
The top six were all on mediums when the lights went out, Russell reacting quickest to pull clear while Antonelli passed Piastri for third.
Verstappen clung on to Russell’s early pace, staying within a second of him throughout the opening five laps, and three clear of Antonelli, as he tried to put him under pressure, but by lap seven the Mercedes was 1.5 seconds clear.
By lap 10, it was two seconds as the Dutchman eased to save his tyres before pitting early on lap 13, for hards. This promoted Antonelli to P2 behind Russell with Piastri third ahead of Hamilton, Norris and Alonso.
Verstappen rejoined ninth as Russell reacted and pitted, returning in seventh on hards before Antonelli pitted from the lead on lap 15 leaving Piastri leading Norris in a McLaren 1-2.
Piastri pitted on lap 17 for hards, gifting Norris the lead after starting seventh on hards.
After a bright start, Hamilton pitted on lap 16 and came out trapped 10th in traffic, with reported damage to his car, that delayed his pursuit before Russell, on lap 26, swept past Leclerc for second.
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Two laps later, Leclerc pitted for more hards followed by Norris, who took mediums. “I don’t understand this choice,” complained Leclerc, knowing it meant he had to pit again.
All this restored Russell and Verstappen to lead again ahead of Antonelli and Piastri with Norris charging in fifth, ahead of the two Ferraris.
Verstappen was early to pit again, on lap 37, but with a fast out-lap passed Antonelli, as Mercedes responded in vain to the Red Bull under-cut and began the second stops.
Only five seconds separated the top four as they began a furious final 10-lap dash to the flag that resulted in the McLarens battling wheel-to-wheel for fourth place near the end when Norris hit the rear of his team-mate’s car and crashed out of the race.
— With AFP
F1 DRIVERS’ STANDINGS AFTER CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
1. Oscar Piastri — 198 points
2. Lando Norris — 176 points
3. Max Verstappen — 155 points
4. George Russell — 136 points
5. Charles Leclerc — 104 points