F1: ‘I’m not here to let everyone pass’

Lando Norris explained himself after an early Sao Paulo Grand Prix collision with Charles Leclerc that earned him a five-second penalty when the McLaren and the Ferrari touched after the restart following the first Safety Car period.

Leclerc flew into the barriers, but his race was not over.

Norris, who was given a five-second penalty and two points on his license for a collision he thought was nothing more than a “racing incident”.

“He tried to go around the outside, there was a bit of contact,” explained Norris during his post-race interview with Sky F1.

“Obviously, I didn’t want any contact, I need a clean race, but I’m not just going to let everyone pass. I’m not here to let everyone pass.

“I tried to hold my line and I held my line as much as possible. Maybe I could have given five centimeters more and he could have given five centimeters more.

“Maybe he should expect a little bit more, me not being able to hold the inside line the whole way through, but I did my best.

“I feel it was a bit of a racing incident – I know he came off worse and that’s a shame. Obviously I didn’t want that to happen but that wasn’t the problem, that was just life and the rest of it was we were just way too slow.”