Oscar Piastri praises Lando Norris after shocking McLaren collision

Oscar Piastri has praised Lando Norris' swift apology and his taking of responsibility for their Canadian Grand Prix collision.

The McLaren pair were squabbling over fourth place in Montreal, with Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes just ahead in third when Norris lunged up the inside of the hairpin on Lap 66 of 70. 

This led to the two racing side-by-side down the back-straight before Norris used his momentum to try and dive up the inside of Piastri along the start-finish straight at the start of Lap 67.

However, in scenes reminiscent of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button's collision in 2011 in nearly the same place, Norris clipped the back of his team-mate, sending him into the wall and retirement. He later received a five-second time penalty as a result.

Piastri was able to finish fourth, extending his championship lead to 22 points over the Briton. He was later full of praise for Norris' immediate apology for the incident.

"I felt a bit of a touch, and obviously it was an unusual place to have an incident," Piastri told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Lando apologising says I guess says a little bit, and he is a very good guy. 

"I think it is in his character, in his personality, to say exactly what he thinks, and if that's detrimental to himself, if it is about himself, then it doesn't matter for him.

"I think that is a great quality, it is good for the whole team going forward so that we can have these conversations and go racing like this, and have things not go the way we want, and get through them.

"Everything will stay the same. If it had been a crash in a corner, clearly we got it wrong and were too aggressive, then that is one thing, but it was a bit of an unfortunate incident on a straight. 

"So for me, I don't think it will change anything, and I think that is the way it should be because ultimately, we're both trying to fight for a world championship."