Zak Brown: Lando Norris’ punishment for Singapore “probably won’t be noticed”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has clarified remarks made by Lando Norris regarding the consequences he faces following his collision with teammate Oscar Piastri at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris’ aggressive move on Piastri at the start of the Singapore GP took the shine off McLaren’s F1 constructors’ championship triumph.

Norris sustained minor front-wing damage as the pair battled through the opening sequence of corners.

The move irked Piastri, who complained over team radio as he felt Norris’ overtake contravened McLaren’s racing rules.

With the stewards deciding to take no action, McLaren didn’t intervene.

On Thursday in Austin, Norris revealed that he faced “repercussions” for his actions. 

Neither Norris nor Piastri explained what the consequences would be.

During FP1, Brown was asked how Norris would be punished for his overtake.

“We review, of course, every race,” Brown said. “Lando and Oscar had a little bit of a touch there.

“The start of the Formula 1 race is pretty manic, it was clearly not intentional. But we don’t want our cars touching, so we laid out how we go racing at the start of the year.

“So a little of a sporting repercussion in lieu of what happened. So we move forward, the drivers are comfortable and they’re free to race and looking forward to a big race weekend.”

Norris’ punishment “won’t be noticed”

McLaren have tried to keep things fair between their two F1 title contenders.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was ordered to let Norris overtake after a slow pit stop for the latter.

Brown was pressed by Karun Chandhok on how Norris will be impacted after his aggressive manoeuvre in Singapore.

“It’s marginal,” Brown added. “It’s consistent with what happened – which was a racing incident, at the end of the day, at the start of a grand prix with a track that was somewhat damp.

“It wasn’t intentional, so very marginal, it probably won’t be noticed. Lando and Oscar know what it is, which is what’s most important.

“Of course we want to be transparent with our fans. We are doing it the hard way, trying to let both guys race for the championship. The easy way out would be to have a one and two as some teams do, but that’s not how McLaren want to go racing.”