Zak Brown confirms severity of Lando Norris’s “sporting repercussion” after Singapore GP clash

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has clarified that Lando Norris will be handed a “sporting repercussion in lieu of what happened” at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix.

The British driver went for a bold move at the start of the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. After starting from fifth on the grid, he took third position from his team-mate Oscar Piastri, but in doing so, he bumped into the rear of Max Verstappen and then into the side of Piastri. 

McLaren has been clear that both of its drivers are free to race, with the proviso that they keep it clean. Piastri was clearly unhappy with the Woking outfit’s decision not to step in after the incident, but Norris has now confirmed that he will face “repercussions until the end of the year”.

While speaking to the media ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Norris explained: “It’s not like I’ve got away with anything, but it was also an incident that was small and there was potential to try and avoid it. I said after the race, I can’t afford to make contact and have anything happen like what happened because I put just as much risk on my whole championship from something going wrong as I do on whoever I might be racing against.

“Of course, repercussions for myself but otherwise the engagement and how we go racing is the same as it’s always been.”

Norris’s comments have raised questions about what the repercussions would be as he fights it out for his first championship title with Piastri. Now, Brown has confirmed that the consequences will be marginal and in line with the “racing incident”.

“We review every race. Lando and Oscar had a tough time in Singapore. The start of an F1 race is pretty manic. It was clearly not intentional,” Brown explained to Sky Sports F1.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

“We don’t want our cars touching, so we laid out how we go racing at the start of the year. A little bit of a sporting repercussion in lieu of what happened. We move forward. The drivers are comfortable, they are free to race and we are looking forward to a big race weekend.”

Brown added on the severity of the consequences: “It’s marginal, it’s consistent with what happened. It’s a racing incident at the end of the day, at the start of a grand prix on a track that was somewhat damp. It wasn’t intentional.

“It’s 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.”

Photos from United States GP – Practice

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