Oscar Piastri has praised Lando Norris for his immediate apology after colliding with the back of his McLaren during the Canadian Grand Prix.

Attempting to overtake the championship leader, Norris clipped the back of Piastri’s McLaren and wiped himself out of the Canadian GP as a consequence.

Oscar Piastri: Lando Norris apologised to me

Norris ended up hitting the pit wall due to wiping out his front wing in the collision, with Piastri fortunate to survive the clash and finish the race in fourth place to extend his championship lead to 22 points over the British driver.

While such a collision could have resulted in intra-team tensions overtaking the Woking-based squad, Norris calmly took to team radio to admit his culpability for the incident and, with McLaren’s final result otherwise unaffected aside from Norris’ retirement, all remained calm after the chequered flag.

Norris made a beeline to Piastri in the media pen after the race, apologising – an apology which was readily accepted by Piastri as the pair smiled at each other and shook hands.

“No one to blame but myself,” Norris admitted.

“So I apologise to the whole team, and to Oscar as well, for attempting something probably a bit too silly. So yeah, glad I didn’t ruin his race and, again, apologies to the team.”

Explaining what he had been thinking as he spoke to F1TV, Norris said, “I just thought Oscar would move a bit to the right, not to leave a gap obviously, I don’t expect something to be easy from him but I just misjudged it.”

Turning to address the media, Piastri said he couldn’t yet offer much of an opinion as to what had happened in the clash.

“Honestly, I haven’t seen what happened,” he said.

“I obviously felt a bit of a touch, but it’s an unusual place to have an incident, so I still need to have a look.

“Lando has apologised to me so I guess that says a little bit, but I honestly haven’t seen what happened.”

Asked what Norris had said to him in his apology, Piastri revealed that the British driver’s words had been consistent with his public admissions.

“He just said it was his bad,” he said, before praising Norris for his willingness to admit a mea culpa of such magnitude.

“I think Lando is a very good guy, and I think it’s in his character and his personality to say exactly what he thinks, and, if that’s detrimental to himself or if it’s about himself, then it doesn’t matter for him,” he said.

“I think that’s a great quality for the man. I think it’s good for the whole team going forward, that we can have these conversations and go racing like this and, [when we have] things not go the way we want, we get through that.”

What records are in progress during the F1 season?

👉 F1 race wins: Which drivers have the highest win totals in F1 history?

👉 F1 race wins: Which drivers have the highest win totals in F1 history?

McLaren has been reluctant to turn to team orders, or ‘papaya rules’ as they have become colloquially known at the team’ to manage Norris and Piastri’s individual pursuits of championship glory, and the Australian said he doubts the potentially calamitous clash will affect how team boss Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown control the dynamic between their two drivers.

“I think everything will stay the same,” he said.

“Had it been a crash in a corner and clearly we got it wrong and too aggressive, then that’s one thing, but it was a bit of an unfortunate incident on a straight, effectively.

“So, for me, I don’t think we’ll change anything, and I think that’s the way it should be because, ultimately, we’re both trying to fight for a world championship.”

Norris and Piastri have been summoned before the stewards to explain their viewpoints following the Canadian Grand Prix.

Neither McLaren finished on the podium for the first time this season, with the two Mercedes drivers and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen taking the podium spots and keeping the McLarens at bay even before their late-race collision.

Ultimately, the MCL39 didn’t quite have the pace required to take the podium places, Piastri explained.

“Our pace wasn’t great in the first stint on the medium,” he said.

“I think where we came into our own today was when everyone else was degrading, we were good.

“Unfortunately, we probably needed the race to be about 100 laps to take advantage of that. I think we were quick at points and, at other pointsm we didn’t have enough.

“The whole race, we didn’t really have enough of an advantage, so a bit frustrating.”

Read Next: Lando Norris issues apology for late-race Piastri collision