McLaren CEO Says Piastri-Norris Collision In Canada Was A Confidence Booster For The Team
Going into the second half of the season, McLaren is in control of both championships
McLaren is on an absolute heater this season, with the team looking to be on track to win both the drivers' and the constructors' championships for the first time since 1998, with both drivers several race wins-worth of points clear of Max Verstappen in P3 and the team 238 points clear of Ferrari going into the second half of the season.
But what is surprising is that in a season pretty much dominated by the team in papaya orange, their CEO says one of their lowest points was actually a confidence builder.
That moment came at the Canadian Grand Prix when the team's drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, collided on the pit straight as Norris attempted to overtake championship leader Piastri, but ended up making contact with him.
That cost Norris and the team a boatload of points, while Piastri continued on to finish P4.
The team got threw it and Norris even went on to win the next two races; however, it's rare to see it as a confidence booster, which is what McLaren CEO Zak Brown said in an interview with Sky Sports (per Formula1.com).
"I think Montreal was actually a nice moment for all of us, in hindsight, that it just kind of took the air out of the balloon and we just kind of got it over with and everyone was talking about it," Brown said.
"I kind of feel like it’s raised everyone’s confidence and comfort of, ‘It’s happened, it was a mistake’, so I think we’ll see other incidents in the near future, but there will be racing mistakes and racing mistakes are going to happen."
That makes sense. Teammate collisions in Formula 1 championship battles aren't new. Senna and Prost had multiple that decided championships. Hamilton and Rosberg famously clashed in Spain back in 2016.
They're practically inevitable, so maybe it's best to get it out of your system now rather than with a championship on the line later in the year.