Jacques Villeneuve: Oscar Piastri “a little bit nasty” in McLaren Montreal clash

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Oscar Piastri was a “little bit nasty” in his tangle with McLaren teammate Lando Norris at the Canadian Grand Prix.

On Lap 67 of Sunday’s race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Norris crashed out of the race after running into the back of his teammate.

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

As Piastri defended the position on the start-finish straight, Norris attempted to move to the left of the Australian to try to get inside into Turn 1.

As Piastri covered it off, Norris ran into the back of him, putting the British driver out of the race.

Norris immediately apologised for the incident over team radio and cleared the air with Piastri in the post-race media pen in Montreal.

Speaking on his personal Instagram account, Villeneuve reflected on the race in Canada.

“Montreal Grand Prix over and a great podium for Antonelli,” he said.

“He needed it after the last three races that were difficult, now he’ll get a little bit more confidence, that will be great for him. What could have been, should have been an exciting race, turned into a not-so-exciting race.

“Also, at the end of the race, the rules allow for a red flag so we can have a new start for a two-lap sprint, always excitingand they decided to have a boring safety car finish, too bad.

“It was mainly a race of attrition on the tyres basically, they were all massaging the tyres instead of pushing hard.

“Sainz got a point, a good recovery, but then the clash between the two McLaren drivers, [it was] easy to point the finger at Norris.

“He realised too late that Piastri was moving towards the left because he had his nose in the gearbox of Piastri, he didn’t realise it and Piastri was edging gradually towards the left.

“He’s not supposed to be doing that, it was a little bit nasty, so there will be some talks later inside the team.”

Oscar Piastri extend F1 points lead

With Piastri finishing the race in fourth, he’s now 22 points ahead of Norris in the championship standings after 10 races.

Piastri will be relieved, given he struggled for pace relative to Norris until qualifying.

The Australian didn’t look like he would be in the fight for pole position heading into qualifying.

However, unlike Norris, Piastri produced a clean lap to secure third on the grid.

Piastri lost out to Antonelli on the opening lap and settled into fourth place.

During the final stint, Piastri lost ground due to traffic and was pressured by Norris.

Once again, Piastri’s impressive racecraft saved him and allowed him to stay ahead of Norris.