McLaren driver Lando Norris received what seemed like a lenient penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix after he caused a collision with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, with just four laps remaining in the race.
Norris was attempting to overtake Piastri for fourth place when he misjudged the distance between their cars. He clipped the rear of Piastri`s McLaren and, in the process, damaged his own car`s suspension by hitting the pit wall barrier.
This incident resulted in Norris having to retire from the race immediately. The British driver accepted full responsibility for the collision during media interviews conducted after the event.
Race stewards conducted an investigation into the crash later that Sunday evening. They concluded that Norris was solely at fault. However, they issued only a five-second time penalty. This sanction had no practical effect on his race classification, as he was ultimately listed as 18th place, four laps behind the race winners.
Furthermore, the stewards decided against applying any penalty points to Norris`s super license for causing the collision. This decision regarding penalty points is entirely at the discretion of the stewards.
Although the incident ended Norris`s race and cost him potential points, he appeared to escape with a relatively light punishment, given that the penalty imposed by the stewards did not materially impact his final result or add points to his license that could affect future race eligibility.
Typically, the standard penalty for causing a collision in Formula 1 is ten seconds and two penalty points. However, the stewards` official statement concerning the Norris incident explained their less severe decision, noting that the collision had not negatively affected any other driver`s outcome.
Stewards` Reasoning
“The Stewards determined that the driver of Car 4 [Norris] was solely to blame for the collision. Because the collision had no immediate and obvious sporting consequence, we imposed a 5 second time post-race time penalty on Car 4,”
Time penalties assigned to drivers who retire from a race are usually converted into grid penalties for the next event. However, since Norris completed over 90% of the Canadian Grand Prix laps before retiring, he was officially `classified` in the race results. This classification allowed the stewards to issue a post-race time penalty rather than converting it to a grid penalty for the upcoming race in Austria.
Nevertheless, the incident could still have a significant bearing on Norris`s aspirations in the championship standings. Following the race, Piastri extended his lead at the top of the standings by 12 points, bringing his total advantage over Norris to 22 points.
Rupert Caldwell 
Tristan Blackwood