Explained: Why was Lando Norris given a 5-second penalty for the F1 Canadian GP instead of a grid drop for the next race

McLaren driver Lando Norris was given a five-second penalty during the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix and managed to escape a grid drop for the next race. It was an eventful weekend for the British driver as he started the race from P7 after making a costly mistake during his final run in the Q3 session in qualifying.

Starting on hard tires, Norris was unable to make any place off the line but was successful in taking his first interval longer than the cars near him. In the final few laps of the race, he was quickly catching the front pack and found himself behind his teammate and rival, Oscar Piastri.

After several failed attempts to pass the Aussie, Norris dived into the hairpin ahead of the back straight and was wheel-to-wheel throughout the DRS straight. However, on the start-finish straight in his eagerness to make the overtake, he went to the inside and clipped the rear tires of Piastri's car and lost his front wing, and later had to stop his MCL39 after sustaining damage on his front tires.

During the race, the McLaren driver was quick to admit to his mistake and even apologized to his teammate. Meanwhile, the stewards were less empathetic towards Norris and gave him a five-second penalty. However, it had no impact on his final race result.

In their statement, the race stewards explained that they had given Lando Norris a time penalty as he was classified in the race despite his crash and avoided the grid drop for the next race. They believed the penalty had “no immediate and obvious sporting consequence” as he had crashed out. The grid drop is given to a driver when he is unclassified from the final race results and has no means of serving the time penalty.

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Lando Norris reflects on his crash with Oscar Piastri in Canada

McLaren driver Lando Norris stated that he had already apologized to his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and the team members for breaking the one team rule for engagement. As per F1.com, the six-time F1 race winner reflected on the incident and said:

“Our number one rule is not to make contact with your teammate, and unfortunately, that is what happened today. I apologise to Oscar and the team. I thought I had a small opportunity, but with hindsight, I should never have gone for that move."

"I’ve paid the price, and I’m glad nothing adverse happened to Oscar. I will put it behind me and learn from today’s mistake to come back stronger as a team in Austria,” Lando Norris added.

Following the crash, Norris lost out on 10 points from the race and now trails Piastri by 22 points in the driver's championship.