Former McLaren man issues stern verdict on Lando Norris' controversial move on Oscar Piastri

McLaren star Lando Norris collided with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, at the 2025 Canadian GP, which consequently led to the Briton crashing out and retiring from the race. Juan Pablo Montoya recently came out and shared his unfiltered opinion on Norris’ crash with Piastri in Montreal.

Lando Norris had a terrible Q3 session where he missed the braking into the final chicane on his banker run and failed to improve his time after making mistakes on the final run. As a result, Norris started the race in P7. However, through the strategy of starting on the harder tire compound, he was able to get into the Top 5 after the final pit stop.

Lando Norris ran P5 with 10 laps to go, with his teammate and championship leader, Oscar Piastri, in front of him in P4. The Briton piled on the pressure on his teammate and made a desperate move with 4 laps to go.

The two went side by side onto the final straight, followed by the chicane. Norris went for a gap that didn't exist onto the start-finish straight and ended up hitting Piastri's rear, followed by a crash into the inside barrier.

Formula 1 Spain Grand Prix - Friday - Source: Getty

Former McLaren driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, who drove for the team in 2005 and 2006, came out and shared his stern verdict on Norris's move on Piastri, which led to the collision. He said,

“In the collision, I think he thought that Oscar was going to get through the corner, and Lando was just going to be good enough to squeeze through. But if you're going on a straight line and there's grass, you might get away with putting the car on the grass. But there's a corner there.” “So even if Oscar had given him a bit of room and he put the tyres on the grass, he was going to come out backwards out of that deal. So even if he didn't hit Oscar, that wouldn't work. It is unnecessarily impatient,” added Montoya

Lando Norris had a 10-point deficit to Piastri in the driver's championship coming into the Canadian GP. However, as he retired from the race and Oscar finished P4, the gap has now grown to 22 points.

Lando Norris apologised and accepted his mistake immediately after the crash.

Lando Norris had been hot on Piastri's gearbox for multiple laps, who in turn was chasing Kimi Antonelli for the final podium position. Had the Briton been patient, both the McLarens could've passed the Mercedes driver. However, Norris got impatient and made the desperate move on Piastri, which ended up costing him and the team.

After the crash, Norris immediately came onto the radio, apologised to the team, and took the blame for the crash. Even during the post-race interviews, the Briton took responsibility for the crash and apologised to his teammate.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stellar suggested that all was good within the team as Norris had instantly accepted his mistake and apologised to the concerned members.

Edited by pranavsethii