Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner says 2025 champion Lando Norris's crash with his McLaren team-mate during the Singapore Grand Prix sprint race was "not a world champion move".
Norris and Piastri made contact on the last lap of the sprint race. While running in fourth and fifth, Norris went for a move down the inside of his team-mate but ended up clipping Piastri, sending both of them into a spin.
As a result, Piastri was out of the race while Norris managed to continue. The Briton picked up one point with an eighth-place finish.
"You really shouldn't be doing this. This was not a world champion move," Steiner said during an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast.
Steiner praised McLaren team principal Andrea Stella's management of the situation.
"Andrea in these situations is very good," the former team chief added. "I think he made him feel a w***er. He explained to him that this is not happening. I don't think Norris [apologised] for a political reason. [Norris] came to the conclusion that [it] was actually pretty stupid what he did... There was no need for it, especially the reaction afterwards.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
"Because when you crash into your team-mate... it can happen. But the reaction from him, because that is not Lando. He realised he was a little bit too cocky."
While Norris initially claimed "it was a big gap, I went for it, I have the right to do that," he later apologised for the incident.
"I can't attempt what I did, I should never have attempted it in the first place, even if the move was on," Norris told F1.com after the grand prix.
"I simply have to think more about the team that I represent more than myself. It was a mistake on my part, I let down the team. I've also apologised to all of them and I owe them all an apology and we'll do better next time."
After only picking up one point in the sprint race, Norris and Piastri scored 22 points in the grand prix after finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.