Formula 1 expert Peter Windsor praised Rand Norris for his immediate apology to teammate Oscar Piastri following the on-track collision at the Canadian Grand Prix, but raised concerns about whether the McLaren star was simply “too good.”
Norris crashed from Sunday’s race after running behind his teammate Piastri.
The duo were fighting hard in fourth place behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antoneri.
Norris moved aggressively to the hairpin as he ran side-by-side at the final chicane.
The piastry broke late, slower at the exit and ran down the starting finish straight to Norris.
The piastry covered the inner line, but Norris went left and slammed behind the piastry, but there was no space.
Norris immediately apologized for Team Radio and went to Piastri in a Montreal media pen.
We talked about Windsor’s YouTube manager, a former F1 team manager and journalist, and were impressed by Norris’ response.
“I actually thought how Rand reacted was very good,” Windsor said. “He’s on the radio right away and he’s got all his own responsibility. A lot of racing drivers would have done that in that situation. If it were Nigel Munsell, Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda, especially Niki Lauda, I think they’d all have found some way to blame other guys, teams, or anything.
“That’s what racing drivers do. Rand took all his blame and it didn’t take long to get back to the pit. He went back to McLaren Garage. The first thing he did was get to Oscar’s hand and wave Oscar’s hand and say, “No problem.”
“A lot of people would say Rand is too good, and maybe he is. I don’t think this is a bad thing we see from Rand Norris there. It’s probably a very good thing, very human, and it shows that he’s a very good, honest person.”
Norris said, “You can’t continue to be a nice guy.”
Norris’ DNF at the Canadian Grand Prix means he’s 22 points behind Piastri in the Formula 1 title race.
Despite praises Norris’s response, Windsor questioned whether he was ruthless enough.
“But at the same time, he has to find a way to take the championship to Oscar Piastri,” added Windsor.
“He can’t remain a nice guy. Again, if it’s a race with Daniel in the days of Ricardo, if, say, Munsell and Piquet, or Munsell and Piquet with both cars, Max and Prost, there was no way to spend three laps past the Oscars.
“He was too long behind Oscar and by the time he was there, it was easy for him to keep his car on the road, which I was thinking for everyone.
“For McLaren, for Rand Norris, and certainly for Oscar Piastri, he didn’t win the race, but he has a great advantage in terms of the points he’s earned. He has to work very hard to get the benefits he’s got today at Landor in one race.
