Brown orders Norris and Piastri not to repeat Singapore sprint clash

Zak Brown has told Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri not to repeat their Singapore Grand Prix sprint collision. “That’s an order,” the McLaren Racing CEO told Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle during the Grand Prix grid walk. Brown called the outcome unnecessary for McLaren and said the team was trying to catch Ferrari, with Red Bull close behind.

The collision came on the sprint’s final lap, as the teammates fought for fourth. Norris dived inside Piastri at Turn 5; both cars spun and Piastri retired, while Norris recovered to eighth. The stewards took no further action.

After Sunday’s grand prix, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said discussions with the drivers were continuing. He said they were not about assigning blame or revisiting whether Norris had been alongside Piastri, but about putting the team’s interests ahead of individual ones.

Norris’s view changed over the weekend. Immediately after the sprint he defended the move, citing a big gap and saying he had the right to try it. By the end of Sunday, he said he should never have attempted it, even if the move was on; he called it his mistake and said he had apologised to the team.

Norris finished Sunday’s grand prix fourth, with Piastri fifth. McLaren are third in the constructors’ standings with 339 points, seven ahead of Red Bull and 105 behind Ferrari.