Martin Brundle delivers verdict on McLaren's Singapore GP clash

Martin Brundle says McLaren will be “pretty upset” after losing vital Formula 1 world championship points due to an intra-team collision in the Singapore Grand Prix sprint race. 

On the final lap of Saturday’s incident-packed 20-lap sprint race, Lando Norris wiped out McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri when the reigning world champion made a late lunge in a failed attempt to gain fourth place. 

Norris dived down the inside heading into Turn 5 and the pair made contact, with Piastri sent spinning into the barriers, while Norris dropped down the order to eighth. The Briton would go on to claim the final point on offer, but the incident cost McLaren a bigger points haul. 

It could prove costly as Red Bull now sits just 11 points behind third-placed McLaren in the constructors’ championship after Max Verstappen claimed a convincing victory in the sprint. 

Giving his verdict on the McLaren clash, Brundle felt the move wasn't worth the risk. 

“I think the team will be pretty upset that they ended up meeting in the middle at Turn 5 on the last lap of the sprint when they are in a big fight in the constructors’ championship with Red Bull. They were outscoring Red Bull in that race,” Brundle told Sky Sports F1. 

“It just wasn’t really necessary. It doesn’t really matter what the rules are, they didn’t need to make contact there. It’s difficult. They can’t afford the parts, they can’t afford the points and now they are up in the stewards’ office which will destabilise their preparation. No doubt they’ll be some broken bits on both cars as well.

“It just wasn’t worth the risk. But they are racers, they are hard-wired to do that.” 

Norris risks losing his points-paying position after being summoned to the FIA race stewards. 

"In the last lap, there was a big opportunity into Turn 5, so I went for it," Norris said afterwards. "The gap closed a bit more than I would have liked, and obviously I've had to back out of it because the gap was closing, so I've had to try and avoid the incident. And obviously there still was one.

"But it was a big gap, so I went for it. I have the right to do that. The rest, we go review as a team.”

Piastri, meanwhile, appeared unbothered, saying: "I need to look at it. I didn't see him at the apex. I looked behind into the corner and saw he was a reasonable way behind for a corner like that but I'll have a look and the team can do what it needs to do."