Zak Brown gives firm 'order' to Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri after Singapore GP clash
With Red Bull breathing down their necks, Zak Brown warns his drivers that intra-team collisions cannot happen.
The Singapore Grand Prix saw drama within the McLaren garage as the two drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, collided on the final lap of the sprint race.
Going into Turn 5, Norris launched a move on Piastri and cost both drivers the positions they were in. The Australian had been running in fourth, with the Brit directly behind in fifth.
However, after the collision, Piastri was unable to finish the final lap of the race, and Norris would recover to secure one point as he finished in eighth place.
After the race, the stewards determined that no penalty was going to be handed out, and McLaren would keep the single point they collected.
But away from the race track, there clearly had been some stern words from the McLaren hierarchy to their two drivers after the altercation.
Ahead of the Grand Prix on Sunday, Martin Brundle spoke to the chief executive officer of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, on the starting grid.
Brundle said to Brown, “I’m going to imagine some fairly stern words last night to your drivers who managed to trip over each other.”
Brown replied, “Oh yeah. That was a ‘don’t do that again.’ And we didn’t say please. That’s an order.”
When asked if he was really upset with what occurred during the sprint race, he confirmed, “Yeah. You can’t have that.
“It was an unnecessary result for the team when a lot of pressure is on, and we’re trying to catch Ferrari and Red Bull’s not far behind.
“We learn from it. I think there are some things they definitely could have done differently. Maybe a few things we could have done a little bit differently. So you learn.”
Brown was not the only member of the management team at McLaren to send a warning to the drivers, as on Saturday evening, Andrea Stella also spoke to Sky Sports regarding the incident, labelling it as ‘not acceptable’.
Luckily for McLaren, on Sunday, both cars were able to finish the Grand Prix, with Norris in fourth and Piastri in fifth place. Meaning they were able to hold onto third in the Constructors’ standings despite Max Verstappen winning the sprint race and Grand Prix for Red Bull.
