F1 legend Jacques Villeneuve blames Oscar Piastri for the Canadian GP clash with Lando Norris, raising questions inside McLaren F1 team.
Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion, believes Oscar Piastri was “a bit mean” during his collision with his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, at the Canadian Grand Prix.
On lap 67 of Sunday’s race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Norris crashed after hitting the rear of his teammate.
The two were fiercely battling for fourth place behind Kimi Antonelli. As Piastri defended his position down the straight, Norris tried to move to the left of the Australian in an attempt to slot in and gain the inside line for turn 1.
As Piastri took his racing line, Norris made contact from behind, ending the British driver’s race. Norris immediately apologized over the radio and cleared the air with Piastri right after the race in Montreal.
But Jacques Villeneuve, who had already said live on Canal+ that the Australian bore some responsibility for gradually moving across, is not changing his view despite Norris’s mea culpa.
“The Montreal Grand Prix is over and Antonelli achieved a superb podium. He needed that after the last three tough races. He will now gain some confidence, which will be great.”
“But what could have been an exciting race turned into something less exciting.”
“Also, at the end of the race, the rules allow for a red flag and a two-lap sprint restart, which is always thrilling, but instead they opted for a boring finish under the safety car — a shame.”
“It was mainly a race of tire management, they were all managing instead of attacking.”
“Sainz scored a point, a nice comeback, but then, in the incident between the two McLaren drivers, I think it was too easy to just blame Norris.”
“He realized too late that Piastri was moving to the left, because he was right on Piastri’s gearbox. He didn’t notice, and Piastri was gradually shifting left.”
“He wasn’t supposed to do that — it was a bit mean. I think there will be some discussions later within the team about it.”