2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button has discussed Lando Norris’s ‘repercussions’ and predicted that more McLaren clashes could happen before the end of the 2025 season.
Norris confirmed ahead of the United States Grand Prix that he will have “repercussions until the end of the season” for his opening-lap clash with his team-mate Oscar Piastri at the Singapore Grand Prix.
After starting fifth on the grid, Norris went for a lunging move at the race start to take third from Piastri. However, in the process, he bumped the rear of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and, as a result, banged into the side of Piastri. While McLaren decided not to take action during the race, Norris has since confirmed that there will be consequences to his move.
“Things were reviewed and there are and will be repercussions for me until the end of the season,” Norris said. “It’s not like I’ve got away with anything, but it was also an incident that was small and there was potential to try and avoid it.
“I said after the race, I can’t afford to make contact and have anything happen like what happened because I put just as much risk on my whole championship from something going wrong as I do on whoever I might be racing against.
“Of course, repercussions for myself but otherwise the engagement and how we go racing is the same as it’s always been.”
Discussing the consequences for the Briton, Button claimed during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast that it would usually only lead to a telling-off.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Andrea Stella, McLaren
Photo by: Jayce Illman / Getty Images
“You are always told by your team boss, the one thing you don’t do is crash into each other, which you don’t want to do with your team-mate anyway,” the former F1 driver explained.
“Normally it’s a telling-off after and you move on to the next race, it’s not like they are fighting for 10th and 11th, they are fighting for the world championship. This might be the only opportunity these two drivers get to win a world championship or fight for one. They need to be given every opportunity possible.
“Maybe it’s something like Oscar is allowed to choose when the first pitstop is.”
Button argued that as more rules are put in place, the likelihood of these sorts of clashes increases.
“The problem is when you start putting rules in place, your eye is off the ball a little bit. As soon as you start tensing up in the car and you’re not racing as you would normally, that’s when incidents can happen.
“It’s a really tricky one. For Lando, he had to make that move – that was such an important move for him. That could be winning the world championship or not. He did the right thing, it’s just what happens now with him.”
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