Oscar Piastri speaks kindly about Lando Norris, who rear-ended him three laps from the end of the Canadian GP. Despite the contact, his lead over the Briton has now increased to 22 points.
Maybe it’s his mild-mannered nature outside the car, or maybe it’s the fact he secured a fourth place that allowed him to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Or perhaps it’s just his way of getting further under the skin of his teammate and rival. Whatever the reason, Oscar Piastri made no fuss about the incident that saw him involved three laps from the end of the race, when Lando Norris rear-ended him while attempting an overtake to ease his own race struggles in Montreal.
After the race, the Australian driver was quick to comment on the incident, saying he hadn’t seen much of it. What he did say, however, was that Norris immediately apologised to him, and he had only kind words for Lando on a personal level. Oscar Piastri’s emotional armour remains firmly in place and hard to penetrate. Many have bounced off it, and he continues to assert himself as an increasingly composed and quiet leader in the championship.
“Honestly, I didn’t see what happened. I felt a hit, but yeah, it was a strange place to have an incident. So I’ll have to take another look. Lando apologised to me and simply said it was his fault, so I think that explains what happened. But honestly, I didn’t see much.”
“Lando is truly a good guy and I think it’s exactly in his nature and personality to say exactly what he thinks. That can sometimes work against him. Or if it’s about himself, he doesn’t really mind. I think that’s a great quality of his. And I think it’s a positive for the whole team to have that kind of communication between us and to race like this. And when things don’t go our way, to move past them. For me, it ends here.”
“I think it was just an unfortunate incident on the straight. For me, nothing changes – and that’s how it should be. Because we’re both trying to fight for the title.”
Oscar Piastri’s lead over Norris has now grown to 22 points – still not enough to be reassuring with so many races left on the calendar.
“The season is still very long, and Lando only needs to win three races with me finishing second to cut the gap to just one point. It’s not a comfortable margin, and this isn’t how I want to build my lead in the title race. I didn’t have a great weekend in Canada. It was a tough one for the team as well, and we need to come back stronger.”
To conclude, Oscar Piastri – despite George Russell’s win in Montreal – does not see Mercedes as a real title contender: “I don’t think they are. George is quite far behind. Last year they were fast and I think this is the kind of result they should have had in 2024. We’ll see. They’ve been promising in a few races, especially in qualifying. Today they finally showed that pace in the race as well. But I’m confident in my team over the long run.”
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