A dejected Lando Norris said some drivers on the grid should not be in Formula 1 after he was taken out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion was involved in a three-car collision at the restart of the race. The crash began when Franco Colapinto arrived too quickly on the inside of turn one, hit his team mate Pierre Gasly, who in turn hit Norris’s car.“In end of the day I just got taken out,” said Norris, “so just some drivers that shouldn’t be in Formula 1 to be honest.”
Colapinto received a 10-second time penalty for the collision. Alpine recently renewed Colapinto’s contract to drive for the team again next year.
Norris endured a frustrating race as he said he lacked straight-line speed. He also went off at turn one earlier in the race.
“I just was slow, struggling a lot in the straights,” he said. “You saw how quickly everyone came past me, so it’s just an impossible race out there for me from that side in straight line speed today, so hopefully we get that fixed for next time.”
Norris was also quoted calling for race bans to be imposed on drivers who cause similar crashes. However others did not agree with his point of view.
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“I think that’s too harsh, personally,” said George Russell. “I think Safety Car restarts, cold tyres, a very small mistake can have big consequences. From what I saw today, that’s what it looked like.
“It was a small error that had a big consequence. I think, personally, race bans should come from drivers intentionally doing something very dangerous and very reckless. So I think it was unfortunate.”
Max Verstappen agreed “a race ban probably is a bit much” for this kind of incident.
“That happens. A small mistake or misjudgement, you lock up, it’s on the inside, low grip, and, of course, then I guess it’s a bit unfortunate that it involves so many cars.”