Internal politics suspected by Kravitz in McLaren after Norris/Piastri collision

Before the race at the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, McLaren had already ranked its own chances not too high. Piastri started third and Norris from seventh place. Right at the start, the championship leader immediately lost his podium position to Andrea Kimi Antonelli. If there was ever a race where damage had to be minimised, this action only underscored that advice.

“And yet, they decide to go into this fight with each other for P4. They push each other so hard that Lando made a misjudgment. I found that so odd,” Kravitz began in The Sky F1 Show about the incident between the drivers of the papaya-coloured team.

The 51-year-old journalist also shared his suspicions about the reactions behind the scenes. “When Stella later suggests that he wants to have a discussion with his drivers, he must have thought: ‘Why in heaven's name are you pushing so hard?’”

According to the Formula 1 correspondent, limiting the damage with a fourth place for Piastri was the goal during this race. He therefore stated that Norris losing points was actually unnecessary. However, he also realises that it simply comes with the sport: “Ultimately, it’s just a consequence of racing, it was clearly just racing.”

However, Kravitz also suspected that something more was going on behind the scenes. “The outcome will be that Stella, a man you do not want to anger or irritate, will say, ‘Shall we give each other a bit more room on the track?’ The good news, of course, is that ultimately McLaren only lost ten points because Norris was lying in fifth, which is better than if they had clashed over the first place,” Kravitz said.

The McLaren team principal also responded to the crash after the race, explaining that it did not directly affect the team dynamics. He also addressed how the relationship between his drivers was hardly affected due to the swift apologies Norris made during the race.