Martin Brundle has admonished the Ferrari and McLaren drivers for their dangerous scrap at the US GP, saying that they would have all collided if Lando Norris hadn’t taken action.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, along with McLaren’s Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, were caught in a tussle on the opening lap. There, Norris and Ricciardo were engaged in battle with Sainz for P5.
Leclerc was in front of the trio, and the series of events saw Norris abandon his overtake attempt to prevent crashing into the Monegasque. He executed this with all four drivers racing at high speed, and was praised for his quick thinking.
Brundle admonished the Ferrari and McLaren drivers for their dangerous scrap, and said that it was only because of Norris that they all finished the race.
“There was a fierce battle going on between the Ferrari and McLaren boys, who are very much focused on each other now,” Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports, as quoted by Racingnews365.com.
“On the opening lap at Turn 12, only because Lando Norris took a sensible pill did all four not have a wipe out.
“Leclerc would eventually pull 10 seconds clear for a fine fourth place, and Ricciardo’s McLaren and Sainz’s Ferrari would battle it out for the duration. There’s just 3.5 points between these two great teams with five races to go.”
Dirty racing
During the race, Sainz tried to overtake Ricciardo on Lap 47, choosing to go around the outside of Turn 14. The stubborn Ricciardo didn’t budge, keeping the Spaniard behind him.
Sainz called the Australian’s defence “dirty”, to which Ricciardo responded jokingly that he doesn’t mind being that if he has to grab onto a position.
Leclerc finished P4, while Ricciardo, Sainz and Norris finished P5, P7 and P8 respectively. Ferrari slashed the gap to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, meaning this fight is far from over.
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