Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has conceded he needs to make "better decisions" as McLaren aims to draw a line under his clash with team-mate Oscar Piastri in Singapore. Norris drew the ire of his bosses for colliding into Piastri during their battle for fourth on the final lap of the Marina Bay sprint race, costing eight points and going against McLaren's principles.
Team boss Andrea Stella revealed that the Woking outfit would hold further talks back at HQ, and it is understood those talks took place last week. McLaren is now keen to move on from the incident as Norris, who finished the sprint in eighth with Piastri retiring, apologised for his error of judgement. "I take responsibility for my mistakes, and I learn from them," Norris said in the team's preview for this weekend's United States Grand Prix. "This team is my motivation every weekend, and my aim is to repay the hard work everyone puts in by improving, making better decisions, and representing the team in the best possible way."
The 26-year-old's clash with Piastri added to what had been a tough triple-header for McLaren, which failed to score a podium and had no answer for the upgraded Red Bull. Red Bull took back-to-back wins via Max Verstappen in Malaysia and Singapore, and is now only seven points behind third-placed McLaren with six rounds remaining. Stella said: "After a difficult triple-header, we take the lessons learned from both our performance and execution and put them into action."
McLaren's latest round of upgrades to the MCL40 failed to lift its performance in Singapore, where it was out-developed by Red Bull. Ferrari was also strong on the high-downforce Marina Bay circuit. This weekend McLaren brings relatively minor upgrades focused on the front of the car, aiming to address braking reliability. Chief designer Rob Marshall said: "The last few races have not been great for us, but I think we're getting stronger again and Austin is probably a better circuit for our car."
Source: Autosport F1 News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing