Is Lando Norris too nice? Question raised after immediate apology to Oscar Piastri

F1 expert Peter Windsor has praised Lando Norris for his immediate apology to teammate Oscar Piastri following their on-track clash at the Canadian Grand Prix, but raised concerns over whether the McLaren star is simply “too nice”.

Norris crashed out of Sunday’s race after running into the back of teammate Piastri.

The duo were battling hard for fourth place behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

Norris tried an aggressive move into the hairpin as they ran side-by-side into the final chicane.

Piastri broke late and was slow on the exit, giving Norris a run down the start-finish straight.

Even though Piastri covered the inside line, Norris went left and hit the back of Piastri, with no space available.

Norris immediately apologised over team radio and went over to Piastri in the media pen in Montreal.

Speaking on his YouTube manager, Windsor, who’s a former F1 team manager and journalist, was impressed with Norris’ reaction.

“I thought it was actually incredibly good how Lando reacted,” Windsor said. “He’s immediately on the radio, taking all the blame himself. I can’t think of many racing drivers in that situation who would have done that. If that was Nigel Mansell or Michael Schumacher or Niki Lauda, especially Niki Lauda I think,they would have all found some way of blaming the other guy or the team or something.

“That’s what racing drivers do. Lando was there taking all the blame for himself and took no time walking back to the pits. He got back to the McLaren garage and the first thing he did was go up to Oscar and shake Oscar’s hand and say ‘no problem, it’s not your fault at all’.

“I suppose a lot of people will say Lando is too nice and maybe he is. I am not sure that this is a bad thing we’re seeing from Lando Norris there. That’s probably a very good thing, a very human thing and it shows he’s a very good, honest person.”

Norris “can’t continue to be the nice guy”

Norris’ DNF at the Canadian Grand Prix means he’s 22 points behind Piastri in the F1 title race.

Despite praising Norris’ reaction, Windsor questioned whether he was not ruthless enough.

“But at the same time he has to find a way to take the championship to Oscar Piastri,” Windsor added.

“He can’t continue to be the nice guy. Again, if that was Max racing with Daniel in the Ricciardo days or Mansell and Piquet for example or Senna and Prost with both cars very quick. There’s no way they would have spent three or four laps trying to get past Oscar. It would have been a forceful move the minute he got somewhere near him under the rear wing but because Lando is such a good team player and he loves McLaren and Zak, he took too long.

“He was too long behind Oscar and by the time he was there it was easy for Oscar to keep the car on the road. That was a seminal moment I think for everyone.

“For McLaren, for Lando Norris and for Oscar Piastri certainly, who didn’t win the race but has a massive advantage in terms of the points he got. He has to work very hard to get the sort of advantage he got today over Lando in one race and that's a big step for him in terms of the world championship.”