Formula 1: “Stupid of me”: Norris and Piatri Crashen in Canada

Lando Norris got out of his McLaren completely frustrated and immediately took blame for the devastating accident with his team -mate Oscar Piatri. “I’m sorry, it was all my mistake. It was stupid of me,” said the Briton on the box radio after the escalation on the asphalt.

Four laps before the end ended a hard-run duel between the World Cup second Norris and Formula 1 leader Oscar Piatri with a bad crash of the stable rival. Norris had to leave his car standing on the home stretch, and Piatri saved himself fourth to finish.

“I apologize to the whole team”

“I can only blame myself. I apologize to the whole team and with Oscar that I tried something that was probably stupid,” said Norris. “It was just stupid of me. I go to sleep tonight, apologize to everyone and then it goes on.”

McLaren team boss Andreas Stella said: “We don’t want to see that both McLaren touch. We have to look at and discuss that again.” However, there was no intention, Stella said: “This happened because of an incorrect assessment of Lando.”

In view of the McLaren drama, the fact that George Russell won the Grand Prix of Canada in front of world champion Max Verstappen in Red Bull. At least Verstappen was unimpressed by an impending racing lock and this time it was emotionally dominated with a second place. “I think that was the maximum for us today. We drove a good race,” he said.

Youngster Antonelli becomes third

The Formula 1 world champion in Montreal missed his fourth triumph one after the other, but showed a flawless appearance in the Red Bull. The 27-year-old from the Netherlands also caught up points in the World Cup fight with the weakening and then even crashing McLaren. For the first time this year, neither Piatri nor Norris were on the podium. In the overall classification, Piatri (198 points) still continues to go to Norris (176) and the lurking Verstappen (155) after ten season runs.

Antonelli as third made a strong day for Mercedes. The 18-year-old is the third youngest pilot on a pedestal of the motorsport king class. The German Nico Hülkenberg headed for eighth place and won the second time in a row.

Russell effortlessly defended his pole position against Verstappen. The duel in the first series of start was eagerly awaited, since the defending champion had driven the silver arrow pilot on the car two weeks ago. Verstappen had not only received a ten-second penalty for the ramming, which at the end threw him back to tenth in Barcelona. He also received three penalty points in the sinners. If he collect only one more at the upcoming Grand Prix in Austria, this would result in a lock for the Grand Prix in Silverstone.

McLaren at the start with problems

In any case, in Montreal, the four -time world champion made no dropout and drove Russell in front of him. Verstappen had all won the previous three big prizes. Surprisingly, the most recently dominant McLaren had nothing to do with the fight for the top at the beginning. The World Cup runner-up Norris made driving mistakes in the qualification and could not improve from its seventh place at first. Leader Piatri even lost a rank and was only fourth in the beginning.

Verstappen did not get past Russell, behind him Antonelli became a danger in the second Mercedes. Verstappen decided on the high -speed course for an early change of tire to put the competition under pressure. Shortly afterwards Russell, Antonelli and Piatri came to the box.

Verstappen cannot pass Russell

The Briton Norris stayed the longest from the top drivers to the 30th of 70 rounds on the track and was temporarily ahead. When he got new tires, the old order was restored. Verstappen continued to desperate Russell and increasingly lost contact. Fifth Norris now drove the fastest rounds and became more and more dangerous for the drivers in front of him.

The tire wear was high and caused many pilots, Verstappen and Antonelli were the first to change again and let Russell pull briefly. In view of the many pit stops, it was sometimes difficult to keep an overview. This time Leclerc was waiting the longest, the order remained the same as 20 rounds before the end: Russell, Verstappen, Antonelli – and the group at the top pushed together more and more.

McLaren duel shortly before the end

Even 15 laps before the end, the allocation of the podium places was still completely open. None of the top five made a decisive mistake – but suddenly there was a duel between the McLaren. Norris went on close to Piatri – and then there was an accident between the two. Nobody wanted to give the other room. The race ended behind the Safety Car.