Oscar Piastri has responded with his usual calm to the collision with teammate Lando Norris in Montreal. The Australian only felt a slight bump, just before his main title rival dropped out in Canada. Piastri does not believe Norris had ‘malicious intent’ with his daring overtaking maneuver, and is grateful that McLaren decided to let the two drivers simply race.
The most talked-about moment of the Canadian GP was the collision between teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The Brit approached the Australian in the final stages, and a battle for fourth place subsequently broke out. In lap 65, Norris tried to overtake his title rival on the inside, but due to lack of space, he crashed into the back of Piastri’s MCL39. For Norris, the race was over, while Piastri was able to secure a fourth place and twelve important World Championship points.
The Brit immediately took responsibility after the race. “I’m glad I didn’t ruin Oscar’s race,” the McLaren driver told the media present in Montreal. “It was just racing and moreover stupid on my part. I’m going to bed as usual tonight, apologize to everyone, and move on.”
Case Closed for Piastri
Piastri, who hadn’t seen exactly what happened immediately after the race, responded with his usual calmness. “If Lando has taken full responsibility, then that’s that,” the Australian remains level-headed. “Overall, it was just a bit of a tricky race and not an ideal finish. It was a tough battle, but up until that point, it was also a fair fight. I don’t think there were any ill intentions involved, it was just unfortunate.”
“We’re both fighting for a world championship, and I’m grateful to the team for letting us race,” continues the man from Melbourne. “I don’t think (the collision) will change anything. We’ll keep racing.” In the end, Piastri has done better for the championship than his teammate. The Australian is 22 points ahead of the Brit after the Canadian Grand Prix.
Piastri’s fourth place was not only due to the incident with Norris, but also because the MCL39 didn’t have the pace to overtake the leaders. The tires of the top three lasted longer than McLaren had hoped. “That was a bit disappointing, but I think our pace was generally good. It was more or less the race I had honestly expected.”
