Would could McLaren’s consequences be? Martin Brundle offers theory

Martin Brundle has suggested what McLaren’s consequences for Lando Norris could look like.

Norris revealed ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix that he will face “repercussions until the end of the season” for causing the first-lap collision with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in Singapore.

The Briton slid into Piastri as he pulled off a punchy overtake at Turn Three on the opening lap in Marina Bay, having accidentally ran into the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

With Norris going on to finish third, one place ahead of Piastri, he has reduced his championship deficit down to 22 points with six races remaining.

Both McLaren drivers refused to divulge what the “repercussions” were, prompting plenty of question marks heading into the weekend in Austin.

"Clearly whatever they are going to do will be inside the team and won’t affect the overall performance of the team against others,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1’s coverage.

"It’s slightly odd here because I think what McLaren are doing is actually for the sport very good. They can race from lights out to the chequered flag with one proviso, don’t run into each other. There are then obviously these consequences [if they do run into each other].

"If it hadn’t been Piastri alongside him, the team would have cheered those first few corners for Lando, they were actually brilliantly driven, he happened to just touch his team-mate

"If we were in a development race I think it would be, for example Oscar would get the new parts first. Something like that. Or, if it’s a slipstream track where you need a slipstream in qualifying, Oscar would get priority on that.

"It will be that kind of intra-team thing that doesn’t hand advantage to other teams."

2009 world champion and former McLaren driver Jenson Button said: “It’s a tricky one. You are always told by your team boss, the one thing you don't do is crash into each other, which you don't want to do with your teammate anyway.

"Normally it's a telling off after and you move onto the next race, it's not like they are fighting for 10th and 11th, they are fighting for the World Championship.

"This might be the only opportunity these two drivers get to win a World Championship or fight for one. They need to be given every opportunity possible.

"Maybe it's something like Oscar is allowed to choose when the first pit stop is."

McLaren set-up ‘doomed to fail’

Brundle thinks McLaren’s set-up of having two alpha drivers is ultimately “doomed to fail”.

"100 per cent of course [the gloves are off],” he added. "There is a championship to be won. They have got a fantastic car at McLaren, Max [Verstappen] is appearing in the rear-view mirrors quite quickly as well.

"In many respects this set-up is doomed to fail. You have got two supremely competitive athletes working in a team environment. It's always going to go wrong, it's just a question of how the teams handle it.”

Button added: “We love a good fight for the championship. In terms of performance, they’re both putting it out there, putting it on the line, which is great to see.

“Obviously, when the team gets involved in how hard you can push your team-mate and the repercussions of what happened at the last race, it gets a little bit complicated then, especially in house.”