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Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were involved in a late-race crash during the Canadian Grand Prix, which brought out a safety car and decided the race. However, Piastri has insisted it wasn't a deliberate move, as Norris took full responsibility.
The incident unfolded in the closing stages at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, adding to the dramatic race in Montreal. While Piastri held his position and finished fourth, Norris' race ended in a DNF after the contact. However, the Australian dismissed any rift afterward, stating the contact was not intentional (via F1.NL):
"It was just a bit of a tricky race overall and not an ideal finish. It was a tough battle, but up to that point it was also a clean battle. I don't think there were any bad intentions, it was just unfortunate."
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It was a challenging Canadian Grand Prix for Oscar Piastri from the outset. Starting from P3, he fell back a place to Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap and pitted on Lap 16 for hard tires, dropping him into P7.
Norris, who began on harder compounds, stayed out longer and led briefly, before pitting on Lap 47 to rejoin just behind Piastri. As the race entered its closing stages, the Australian was battling Antonelli for P3, trying to find a way to the podium. The Briton, on the other hand, was closing in quickly, with fresher tires.
On Lap 67, Norris made a move to pass Piastri on the inside in the straight heading into Turn 13. The two made contact, which forced Norris into the wall as his front wing flew off. The Brit eventually retired due to the damage and received a five-second penalty. Nevertheless, the two were clear that this was a pure racing incident, and remained cordial after the race.
Mercedes reigns supreme over McLaren in a rare "difficult" weekend for Oscar Piastri
While the Oscar Piastri-Lando Norris incident stole the headlines, the Canadian GP was all about Mercedes’ dominance. George Russell secured the win after starting from pole, beating Max Verstappen in second and teammate Kimi Antonelli in third.
For Piastri, fourth was the best result available in a race where Mercedes simply had more pace on the McLaren MCL39s.
"It was a bit of a difficult race apart from that. Just not the easiest of weekends. I think our pace was okay in the second half and I think we were quicker than the cars around us, just not by enough. That just meant it was very tough to make much progress really. We struggled a bit on the medium but we seemed better when the graining happened for everybody," Piastri added (via F1)
Despite having a disappointing weekend, McLaren missed the podium for the first time this season. McLaren remains on top of the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship with 374 points, as Mercedes jumped to second with 199 points after a strong weekend.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri extended his gap over Norris to 22 points in the Drivers' Standings, as Max Verstappen closed the gap on Norris with a strong second place to reach 155 points. George Russell, meanwhile, jumped up to fourth with 136 points as the F1 calendar prepares to head to Austria on June 27.
