Lewis Hamilton taught rival Lando Norris a lesson in humility and accountability after the Singapore Grand Prix, according to the expert panel on the latest episode of Pit Lane Torque, a free Formula One video podcast.
British racers Hamilton and Norris were heavily discussed as protagonists in two of the main talking points from the race weekend, despite Max Verstappen securing victory on the streets of Marina Bay. The Dutchman also won the Sprint, which ended in drama as the two McLaren cars collided.
Norris criticised for sprint collision
Norris was chasing down team-mate Oscar Piastri and, on the final lap, tried to slip up the inside at turn five. The Aussie was caught off guard by the move and they collided, sending both cars into a spin.
The contact infuriated McLaren bosses as the team's internal 'papaya rules' make it clear such acts are unacceptable. While the stewards eventually decided neither driver was more at fault than the other, Pit Lane Torque panellist Abigail Nicholson slammed Norris for attempting the audacious move.
She said: "There's no need for that crash to happen in a sprint race for one point for one person, because it would have got the same amount of points for the team anyway."
Reaction to incident criticised
Piastri and Norris were running fourth and fifth until the collision, after which Norris finished eighth and Piastri was scoreless. McLaren lost eight world championship points as a result of the incident.
Nicholson was also critical of Norris' reaction to the incident in post-sprint interviews, most notably one with Dutch broadcaster Viaplay which went viral for the way he mockingly responded to questions about the incident. She said: "It was just so unnecessary to be so rude to someone. There is one thing that you can be as a human in this world, and that is kind. Treating someone like that, and just treating them like they're dumb for just doing their job and rightly, to be honest, questioning him about what he did, because we've seen these incidents go so badly wrong and people get really badly hurt."
Fellow panellist Daniel Moxon, Express Sport's Formula One correspondent, agreed that Norris handled the situation poorly. He said: "It was condescending, it was obnoxious... and it didn't look good for his image."
Hamilton's example of accountability
Moxon also contrasted Norris' reaction to his error with that of Lewis Hamilton, who had immediately accepted responsibility for going rogue with his tyre strategy which cost Ferrari a double podium. After finishing sixth instead of third, the seven-time world champion apologised over the radio and said he was fully responsible for the gamble which did not pay off.
While the incidents themselves were not totally comparable, Moxon pointed to the accountability shown by Hamilton as an example that Norris should follow. He said: "The incidents weren't quite the same, but compare it to the way that Lewis reacted to making that mistake with the pit stop.
"He immediately showed contrition, immediately held his hands up, and he showed humility, took responsibility. Contrast that with Lando and, alright, maybe he didn't think that he was the one in the wrong, and that's fine, but show a little more humility, and take responsibility for the part that you did have to play. The stewards didn't say it was your fault, but they also didn't say it was Oscar's fault, they said it was about 50-50 between them, so you played a role in that incident – take some accountability for the part that you played."
