Lando Norris “broke” McLaren’s one stand-out rule when he ploughed into the back of Oscar Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix, but the Australian also “wasn’t being particularly kind” to his team-mate.

That’s the opinion of former F1 driver Martin Brundle after the title protagonists suffered the inevitable crash at the Montreal race.

Piastri’s lack of kindness, but Norris’ mistake

On a somewhat off-the-boil weekend for McLaren with Mercedes setting the pace, Piastri and Norris were running fourth and fifth as the Canadian Grand Prix neared its conclusion.

Norris appeared to have a pace advantage over Piastri, but in keeping with McLaren’s ethos in the championship race, no team orders were forthcoming with the Briton having to do the job himself.

An opportunistic dive into the hairpin gave Norris the chance to drag race Piastri, before the Australian moved ahead into the chicane to retain the advantage.

Norris closed in on his team-mate on the back straight and went for a gap that wasn’t there, hitting the back of his team-mate’s MCL39. Norris lost his front wing and crashed into the outer pit wall to immediately retire.

Piastri pitted behind the Safety Car for a precautionary tyre change and finished the race in fourth place to extend his advantage over Norris in the title race to 22 points.

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Sharing his thoughts on the flashpoint, Brundle told Sky Sports: “Oscar did well to see the first move coming because Lando was a long way behind when he launched it into Turn 10.

“Lando probably thought he got him because Oscar was at an acute angle into the final chicane and tight and wide.

“Oscar wasn’t being particularly kind to him, but then why should he?

“Lando seemed to persevere down that left-hand side when it wasn’t on.

“I don’t think it was anything other than not recognising early enough that it wasn’t going to happen, followed by wiping his front wing on his rear tyres. It was just very clumsy and sort of unnecessary.”

The crash, which even McLaren felt was inevitable as the team-mates race for a maiden World title, led to questions about whether McLaren would change their policy having so far refused to get involved while allowing the drivers to race free and fair.

“I don’t foresee that the incident will change our approach from this point of view,” said team principal Andrea Stella. “If anything, it will reinforce and strengthen that the principles we have require more caution from our drivers.”

Brundle says he appreciates that.

“I think that’s driven by two racers in Zak [Brown] and Andrea,” said Brundle.

“Lando was being told use the DRS, use your battery, have a go at him. I admire that. I wouldn’t criticise that.

“The rules are, which Lando broke, you race hard, you’re both up for the championship, but don’t run into each other and only one part of that happened.

“As they’ve said frequently, it was inevitable. But, it wasn’t an inevitable championship clash, was it? They were fighting for fourth and fifth, so there’s no point in running into each other.

“It’s not the end of the world, far from it, but it’s difficult for Lando.”

Although Norris is less than a Grand Prix win in points shy of his team-mate in the Drivers’ standings, Piastri has proven to be the more consistent of the two, whereas Norris’ F1 2025 season has been marred by mistakes.

Brundle says he has to stamp that out if he wants a first Drivers’ Championship title.

“Lando won’t win a World Championship unless he can stop these weekends happening. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

“He’s got to bring his A-game pretty much all the time, like Max [Verstappen] does. Oscar’s much more solid in his delivery week in, week out, much more consistent.

“It doesn’t mean he’s out of the championship at all. But when you look at the turnaround in points from the advantage he came away from Melbourne with, to what he’s got now, it’s a 45-point swing in that time.”

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