Title-chasing team-mates were in a thrilling duo when disaster struck

LANDO NORRIS held his hands up after crashing into the back of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

The two McLarens came together with just three laps of the Canadian Grand Prix to go after their thrilling battle for fourth place.

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Lando Norris crashed into Oscar Piastri after a misjudgementCredit:

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Norris was able to walk away from his damaged McLaren but took the hit when it came to blame for the collision with fellow McLaren ace PiastriCredit: Getty

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Norris’s McLaren had to be carried off the trackCredit: AFP
Norris tried to nip ahead of world championship leader Piastri, thinking there was a gap.

But he instead ran into the back of the Australian and into the barrier — ruling himself out of the race.

It gave fans a nostalgic whiff of the controversial crash between Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as McLaren team-mates in 2011 at more or less the same place at this very track.

Norris came onto the team radio and immediately took responsibility saying: “I’m sorry. It’s all my bad, all my fault. Stupid from me.”

George Russell drove a superb race from pole to stand on top of the podium for the first time this season.

Arch-rival Max Verstappen took second with Kimi Antonelli third.

Norris has now lost huge ground in the title fight as Piastri finished behind the safety car in fourth.

Piastri increased his lead over the Brit in the championship by 22 points, with Verstappen 21 adrift of Norris in third.

Norris added after the race: “No one to blame but myself, so I apologise to the whole team and to Oscar as well for attempting something probably a bit too silly.

“Glad I didn’t ruin his race. In the end apologies to the team.

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The duo were set for an intriguing climax before the accidentCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk

“This was just more silly. This wasn’t even like a ‘that’s racing’, it was just silly from my part.

“I go to bed tonight and apologise to everyone and then crack on.”
It was Italian teenager Antonelli’s first ever podium in F1 at just 18-years-old.

Russell soared ahead from the start with Verstappen snapping at his heels, while Antonelli nipped ahead of Piastri.

Russell, who produced an ice-cool performance from start to finish, said: “It’s amazing to be back on the top step.

“The last time for us was back in Vegas. I felt last year was a victory lost and probably got the victory today due to the incredible pole lap yesterday. Obviously so happy to see Kimi on the podium as well.

“Amazing day for the team. Thanks to everyone back at the factory for working to get us back fighting for victories. it feels good.”

It was a bumpy start for Alex Albon who took a trip across the grass with his Williams briefly going airborne.

No one to blame but myself, so I apologise to the whole team and to Oscar as well for attempting something probably a bit too silly.

Lando Norris

After pit stops from Russell and Verstappen, Norris was given a kick up the backside, as his race engineer came on the radio with some words of encouragement which turned out to be a kiss of death.

He said: “Russell has pitted. This is plan A. We need one of those amazing races from you here.”

Lewis Hamilton, who finished in sixth behind his fifth-place teammate Charles Leclerc suffered damage to his Ferrari after hitting a GROUNDHOG on the track, which affected his downforce.

Halfway through and after a flurry of pit stops things had shuffled back to the same formation as the first stint.

Russell was then storming away up ahead with a lead of over five seconds for the first time as Verstappen fell back and into the clutches of Anontelli.

The Italian teenager had DRS on Verstappen so Red Bull called him into the pits early once again before rejoining in sixth.

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Marshals rushed to recover the wing of Norris’ carCredit: Getty
On lap 49 Albon’s afternoon came to an end with him pulling off track with a technical problem, well out of harm’s way so no Virtual Safety Car was required.

It was bunching up between the leading pack, with seven seconds suddenly covering the top five.

Verstappen was snapping at Russell’s heels with just over 1.5 seconds separating the bitter rivals while Norris in fifth was doing the same to his team-mate Piastri in fourth.

The British driver even got within DRS range of Piastri who was being held up by Esteban Ocon in traffic.

Drama finally erupted as the two McLarens collided and the safety car came out.

Russell and Verstappen were sniping at each other under the safety car as the Dutchman felt he braked erratically while the Brit felt the Red Bull driver overtook him.

No one really cared though as Norris and Piastri’s tussle is the story of the season so far.

When Verstappen was asked about making ground on McLaren in the world championship, he said: “It’s a long season, so you need to go race by race.

We’ll always do the best we can.”