‘Glad I didn't ruin his race': Inside the stunning Norris v Piastri crash that set the F1 world alight

Oscar Piastri expects McLaren will still allow both he and teammate Lando Norris to fight for this year's Formula 1 world drivers' championship despite a nightmare collision between the two in the closing laps of the Canadian Grand Prix.
In a move of pure desperation down the inside of the track as the cars crossed the start-finish line on lap 67 of the 70-lap race, Norris made contact with the rear of Piastri's car, and then the wall, as his race came to a dramatic stop in front of a raucous Montreal crowd. Incredibly, Piastri continued on.
Mercedes' George Russell won the race from four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen (a battle in which there's no love lost) and teenage rookie sensation Kimi Antonelli, but it was the disastrous McLaren crash that stole the attention.
Norris, who now trails Piastri by 22 points in the drivers' championship, admitted full responsibility for his attempted overtake.
'[I've got] no one to blame but myself, so I apologised to the whole team, and to Oscar as well for attempting something probably a bit too silly. [I'm] glad I didn't ruin his race,' he said on the Sky F1 coverage in the post-race.
The McLaren pair were in fourth and fifth on the road at the time of the crash, with Norris behind but showing greater late-race pace. But he insisted he never asked the team to issue team orders to let him pass Piastri in an attempt to climb onto the podium.
McLaren famously goes by 'papaya rules', meaning their drivers are allowed to race head-to-head from start to finish, as long as they don't make contact with each other and jeopardise the team result.
'Obviously it's not ideal for anyone… if Lando's taken full responsibility then that's how it goes, I guess,' Piastri said on Sky.
'He [Norris] made quite a large move into turn 10, I held my own into the chicane and it was definitely a tough battle but a clean one until that point.
'I don't think there was any bad intentions involved – I think it was just unfortunate, really.
'We're both fighting for a world championship and very thankful to the team that they allow us to race – I don't expect this to change anything in terms of that.
'We'll keep going racing until the end.'
Piastri, who finished fourth, said there was more pace in his car than he was able to show throughout the race, but still not enough to overtake the Mercedes or Red Bull racers ahead of him.
Ironically, after he qualified on the second row of the grid, this always loomed as a race of damage limitation for him.
'For me this weekend wasn't good enough and it's still far, far too early to think that's a comfortable advantage [in the title race] or anything like that,' Piastri said.
'There's a long way to go in the season.'
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was at his straight-down-the-line best when describing arguably the biggest moment of the season so far, which came straight after Piastri and Norris had cleanly raced wheel-to-wheel in the corners prior.
'We never want to see a McLaren involved in an accident, and definitely we never want to see the two McLarens touching each other,' he said on Sky.
'It's something, definitely, that we need to review because this is a very clear principle.
'At the same time, it's a contact that happened because of a midjudgment – Lando misjudged the distance to the car ahead and, of course, there was no malintent.
'Lando owned [it], immediately, and took responsibility for that, which we appreciate.
'That said, there is something to discuss and review, and the principles are already in place – I think our drivers will have something to learn farther, and we'll go racing again.'
In the drivers' cooldown room ahead of the podium presentation, Russell could clearly be seen on-camera telling Verstappen and Antonelli after watching a replay of the Piastri and Norris incident: 'There was not really a gap there, was there?'
In the aftermath of the race, former F1 racer and renowned analyst Karun Chandhok made it clear that this was Norris' mistake and his alone.
'Lando's chosen to go to the left [the inside of the track],' Chandhok explained on Sky.
'At this point, really, when Oscar went this way [left], if he [Norris] wanted to have a go, he needed to go there [right].
'The trajectory of Oscar's car is going left – he clearly indicated 'I'm moving to the left'.
'It's quite clear that [the gap available on the inside] is not the width of a McLaren. Really, with the slipstream effect, he's gotten too close and just misjudged it.'
Fellow analyst, former world champion Nico Rosberg gave his own unique insight into just what Norris could be feeling following the collision that stunned the F1 world.
Rosberg retired after finally beating his own teammate Lewis Hamilton to the drivers' title, and spoke about the psyche of a racer in Norris' shoes.
'I'm making mistakes, I'm not good enough, I'm making mistakes – it gets to you, in your head, and it can get pretty dark then,' Rosberg explained.
'I've been through this, so it gets really dark – especially when you're making mistakes like today where everybody can see.
'It's difficult for Lando to get back out there.'
Following the race, Red Bull launched a protest against Russell for erratic driving behind the safety car, and for trailing too far behind it. It's the second time Red Bull have protested in the span of five races, and both have been against Russell.
The Formula 1 circus next heads to Austria in a fortnight.
Canada finishing order
George Russell (Mercedes) 1:31:52.688
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.228 seconds
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.014s
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1 lap
Carlos Sainz jnr (Williams) +1 lap
Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1 lap
Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +1 lap
Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1 lap
Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +1 lap
Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1 lap
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1 lap
Lando Norris (McLaren) DNF
Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) DNF
Alexander Albon (Williams) DNF

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