Two of Formula 1’s young guns blamed the other for the clash which required the Safety Car during the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lando Norris was attempting a bold move around the outside of Lance Stroll into Turn 1 to get the inside for Turn 2, but instead only succeeding in punting the Canadian into the barrier.
“Well, he knew I was there on the entry to Turn 1,” the McLaren driver said. “I don’t know what he was thinking after that.
“I was still on the outside, I had a decent part of my car on the outside for Turn 2, but as soon as he started to turn in to the left, I could tell that he either thought that I completely backed out of it, I disappeared or I don’t know what.
“At that point, I knew he was just going to turn in and not give me enough room, I had to try and back out and do what I can but I didn’t have enough time.”
On the more typical racing line, however, Stroll insists Norris should have realised the move wasn’t going to work.
“I didn’t really see the replay so I’ll have to check it out in detail – but yeah, I mean, there was not much room there,” he said.
“I have to make the corner, so I turned in, and yeah, there was not really much I could do. I braked on the inside and went deep into the first corner, and then I had to turn into the next corner and unfortunately just not enough space for both cars.”
The stewards would investigate but later ruled it a racing incident, perhaps because it was a moment that brought some life to a processional race.
