Lando Norris crashes into Oscar Piastri, immediately says sorry

McLaren, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri all said it would happen eventually, and turns out… they were spot on: the title contenders collided in a fight over P4 at the Canadian Grand Prix, exploding their gentlemanly rivalry into bitterness and blame.

Wait, we mean the complete opposite of that. Just seconds after Lando had run into the back of Piastri down the start-finish straight – and, er, liberated his front wing and front-left suspension from his car – he was straight on the radio to admit fault. Probably not what his insurance company wanted to hear, mind.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s all my bad. All my fault,” he said before clambering out of the wreckage. “Unlucky, sorry. Stupid from me.”

And it had been going so well. This was the first time in 2025 that the pair had properly gone wheel-to-wheel, with Lando pulling off a daring move down the inside of the hairpin at Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve before Oscar got him back on the brakes into the final chicane.

Norris then got an almighty exit down the start-finish straight with both cars deploying their DRS, but the Briton aimed for a gap that was never there and the outcome was a DNF and another big hit in the championship battle, which the Aussie now leads by 22 points.

“Yeah, I thought Oscar would move a bit more to the right,” said Lando afterwards. “Not to leave a gap obviously, I don’t expect something to be easy from him. But I just misjudged it. It was all my mistake, I take full blame. So I apologise to my whole team and to Oscar for attempting something like that.

“There’s going for it in the hairpin – good, fair move. And there’s being stupid like I was at the end.”

The two drivers met briefly in the media pen and Lando was quick to say sorry in person. “Nah that’s alright,” replied Oscar. “I mean, I ended up alright!”

No arguing, no awkward fallout, no iconic ‘If you see a gap’ excuses... think it’s safe to say they won’t be making a movie out of this one in 30 years’ time.

Does the championship need more friction, or does this genial battle of respectful employees make for a nice change?