Formula 1: McLaren want 'Norris-Piastri to race with freedom' despite Canada GP collision

New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) McLaren will continue to allow Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to race freely despite their late-race collision at the Canadian Grand Prix, with team principal Andrea Stella making it clear that the team’s core philosophy of driver independence remains intact.

The incident occurred as Norris clipped the back of Piastri’s car during a DRS-fuelled battle for fourth place, prompting concern over whether McLaren would tighten team orders. But the team has firmly backed its drivers to continue racing on merit, albeit with more caution.

"The being free to race and the being clear as to how we go racing is a value of racing," Stella was quoted by Sky Sports as saying. "We want to try and exercise and respect that value as much as we can, rather than every time that we have proximity between the two cars, having control from the pit wall."

Norris immediately accepted blame for the mishap and apologised both to Piastri and the team. The maturity of that response was appreciated internally and has helped ease tensions heading into the high-stakes Austrian-British double-header. Stella praised the culture within McLaren, crediting it for defusing what could have been a divisive moment.

"In every situation, in the heat of the moment it looks like the worst disaster ever, but in reality, the strength of being racers, the strength that comes from having a strong culture, is the fact that you will process the episodes, you will review, you will take all the positive learning and dismiss anything that doesn't have to come with us into the future," Stella said.

He was quick to affirm that the Canada clash was not going to trigger a shift in McLaren’s racing policies. "I don't foresee that episode changing our approach. If anything, it will reinforce that the principles we have require more caution by our drivers."

This was the first significant wheel-to-wheel contact between the two McLaren drivers in what has otherwise been a strong and closely matched season for both. Norris’ DNF in Montreal dropped him 22 points behind teammate Piastri in the Drivers' Championship, but McLaren continues to dominate the Constructors' table, sitting 175 points clear of Mercedes.

Stella insisted that avoiding future incidents isn’t about imposing strict rules but about improving judgment and respecting boundaries during high-stakes battles.

"If we say that there should be no contact between the two McLarens, we need to have the margins to make sure that we have no contact — even if, in a DRS situation, the car may get sucked onto the other and cause misjudgment."

He believes the Canada incident, while unfortunate, will only strengthen the team dynamic. "Having experienced this kind of situation, I think it will make us more robust, as a team and in terms of each of our drivers. The two McLarens racing close to one another will happen again, but there will have to be better judgment in terms of the distance."

--IANS

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