Piastri-Norris collision boosts Aussie's F1 title hopes
Oscar Piastri has forged further ahead in the F1 world championship race after teammate Lando Norris crashed out in a dramatic high-speed Canadian Grand Prix collision between the two McLaren teammates.
As George Russell delivered a brilliant pole-to-chequered flag drive to win from Max Verstappen on Sunday, Norris took the blame for banging his car into the back of Piastri as they duelled dramatically for fourth place with just three laps left.
Going for a gap that simply wasn't there in a bid to edge past the Australian championship leader, the 320kph collision ended with Norris's car stricken, its front suspension broken, and Piastri's coming off relatively unscathed so he was able to complete the race under the safety car.
Norris ended up saying sorry to Piastri after the race, with the Victorian graciously accepting his apology - 'that's all right' - for a rash manoeuvre which could easily have sent them both spinning out of the race.
Instead, the disaster for pointless Norris meant Piastri, who finished fourth, increased his championship lead over his English teammate from 10 points to 22. Verstappen is now 43 points adrift of the Aussie.
Norris accepted he was in the wrong. 'It is all my bad,' he said on the team radio 'All my fault. Unlucky. Stupid from me.'
Kimi Antonelli ended up third place - earning his first podium finish at the age of 18 - to complete Mercedes' big afternoon, but the balance of power in the McLaren camp has once more shifted significantly in Piastri's favour as his points advantage is now almost an entire race's worth.
Piastri had a tough time, getting pipped from third on the grid at the start by the brilliant young Antonelli and having to scrap to stay in fourth for a rare outing outside the top three. Indeed, it was the first race all season when a McLaren driver didn't feature on the podium.
Norris, who had started on a different strategy on the hard tyre compound from seventh on the grid, which allowed him to run longer in the race, had got himself into position to challenge Piastri with just 11 laps left.
It was a superb duel, as Norris first dipped underneath Piastri at the hairpin only for Piastri to draw back alongside him into the final chicane and regain the position.
But Norris was too impatient when he saw what he felt was another opportunity to swoop down the inside, and only thumped into his teammate's car.
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The winger twisted awkwardly attempting to tackle Rabbitohs fullback Jye Gray and was attended by Bulldogs medical staff as he lay motionless on the turf though managed to play on after a stoppage. "It was a bit of a scare there. My whole neck went numb there for probably a minute," Kiraz said after full-time. "But thank God, it all came back, I got my feeling again. It's a bit stiff now but it probably could have been worse. I'm very lucky."
