Norris ‘made a fool’ of himself in Piastri collision

Getty Images
  • 21 Comments

Lando Norris said he “made a fool” of himself in colliding with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the Canadian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old Briton ran into the back of Piastri as they battled in the closing stages of the race, and Norris’ mistake has left him 22 points behind the Australian in their fight for the championship.

Norris, with use of the DRS overtaking aid giving him a straight-line speed advantage, clipped the back of Piastri’s car as he tried to grab the inside line into Turn One.

But Piastri had not left the space for the move to come off. Norris’ front wing and right-front wheel hit the back of the rival McLaren and broke his suspension. Piastri was able to continue without damage.

Norris said: “I didn’t expect to pass Oscar on the outside into Turn One. It’s just, I should never have gone for it, I guess is my complete hindsight thing.

“I thought he was starting to drift a little bit to the right, so I thought I had a small opportunity to go to the left. But it was way too much risk, especially on my team-mate.

“So, happy nothing happened to him. I paid the price for my mistake.”

Norris has ‘a lot of regret’

Norris had dived for the inside at the hairpin and briefly grabbed the position as both were challenging Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli for the final podium position behind winner George Russell’s Mercedes and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Piastri cut back on the exit, and they ran side by side down the long back straight, with the Australian on the inside. Norris braked earlier on the outside for the final chicane, to give himself a cleaner run through the corner and faster exit on to the pit straight.

It was terrific, clean, respectful racing, of the kind McLaren have been demanding from their drivers this season. Until it went wrong.

Norris said: “Our rule number one is to not make contact with your team-mate and it’s what I did. McLaren is my family. I race for them, you know, every single weekend. I try and do well for them, more than I often try and do well for myself.

“So, when I let them down like this and when I make a fool of myself in a moment like today, yeah, I have a lot of regret.

“I’ve let down the team. So, that’s going to stay with me for a little while. But at the same time, part of moving on is trying to put it behind you and crack on with the next weekend.”

Norris had no realistic option but to accept fault, but that does not always make a difference with racing drivers. And his decision to do so immediately defused any tension there might have been as a result of the incident.

Piastri said: “Lando is a very good guy, and it’s in his character and in his personality to say exactly what he thinks. And if that’s detrimental to himself, or if it’s about himself, then it doesn’t matter for him. And I think that’s a great quality of Lando.

“It’s good for the whole team going forward that we can have these conversations and go racing like this and have things not go the way we want, and get through them.”

Both men minimised the importance of the difference this had made to the gap between them in the championship, which is more than double what it was going into the race, but still with 14 races left and only 10 gone.

‘No doubt’ McLaren support Norris

McLaren are taking a mature, sporting and open approach to the fight between their drivers, based on a philosophy of fair competition. They have been saying all year that they considered it a question of when not if they were involved in an incident.

It was in this spirit that team principal Andrea Stella took the situation.

“We never want to see two McLarens having contact,” he said. “This is part of our principles. We saw it today.

“This is just a result of a miscalculation, a misjudgment from a racing point of view, which obviously should not happen, but at the same time is part of racing.

“And we did appreciate the fact that Lando immediately owned the situation. He raised his hand, he took responsibility for the accident, and he apologised immediately to the team. He came to apologise to me as team principal in order to apologise to the entire team.

“On this one I want to be completely clear; it’s full support to Lando. We will have conversations and the conversations may be even tough.

“But there’s no doubt over the support we give to Lando and over the fact that we will preserve our parity and equality in terms of how we go racing at McLaren between our two drivers.

“The situation would be different if Lando had not taken responsibility and apologised.

Where does Norris go from here?

Lando Norris walks away from his McLaren after crashing in Montreal Reuters

Taking a step back from the immediacy of the drama, the bigger concern may be what it says about Norris and his state of mind – and raise questions as to what to do about it.

This has not been an easy season for Norris so far. He was very much McLaren’s leading driver last year. He was the one who took a semblance of a title fight to Verstappen in the closing stages of the season.

In the expectation that McLaren would continue their strong form in the second half of last year into this, Norris was the championship favourite going into the season.

Instead, the form between the two McLaren drivers has switched. Piastri has been the more convincing. He has five wins to Norris’ two. He is ahead 8-4 on their qualifying head-to-head. And Norris has been making mistakes, particularly in qualifying.

Norris has been saying all year that a lack of feel from the front axle of the car has been affecting his ability to predict its behaviour when taking it to the limit on one lap.

In Canada, McLaren introduced a small tweak to the suspension geometry, around where the upper wishbone meets the front wheel, in an attempt increase feel. Stella said there were “no downsides from Lando’s point of view”, and Norris ran it all weekend. Piastri felt he didn’t need it and continued with the original specification.

Norris was probably the quicker McLaren driver in Montreal – he did a stunning lap on used tyres to progress beyond the first part of qualifying. But he again over-drove when it mattered, making mistakes on both of his laps in the final session, and ending up seventh on the grid.

Stella said after qualifying that Norris had “just tried too hard”, and pointed out that on his final lap he was on target for pole before brushing the wall at Turn Seven.

“The speed is there,” Stella said on Saturday evening. “We just have to polish the fact that sometimes you sort of have to accept that you can’t always go 100%, especially when a little mistake can be so costly.”

Stella has emphasised that McLaren have been working with Norris on his difficulties this year.

After the race, he was asked what more they could do to get him into the right headspace, if that was indeed the problem. But he said he did not see a connection between Norris’ wider issues and the specifics of the collision in Canada.

“At the moment I wouldn’t say that that’s the reason why there was a misjudgment today,” Stella said. “I think this is too long a shot in terms of correlating these two events.

“Definitely there will be good conversations, but they will happen once we are all rested and calm.

Related topics

  • Formula 1

Spaun birdies last two to win US Open from MacIntyre

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

  • 82 Comments

US Open final leaderboard

-1 Spaun (US); +1 MacIntyre (Sco); +2 Hovland (Nor); +3 Hatton (Eng); Young (US), Ortiz (Mex), +4 Burns (US), Scheffler (US) Rahm (Spa); +5 Scott (Aus), Griffin (US), Henley (US)

Selected others: +6 Schauffele (US), Koepka (US); +7 McIlroy (NI); +8 Wallace (Eng), Spieth (US), +9 Rai (Eng); +11 Fitzpatrick (Eng); +15 Canter (Eng)

America’s JJ Spaun overcame a flooded golf course, a 90-minute rain delay and the brilliance of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre to win the US Open on a chaotic final day at Oakmont Country Club.

The 34-year-old, who needed a par on the last to win his first major, holed an incredible 64-foot birdie putt to win by two on one under.

MacIntyre, watching on a television, applauded and simply mouthed “wow” when the putt dropped. It was a terrific gesture at the end of an enthralling final round.

The 28-year-old from Oban had gone close to breaking his own major duck at a course that is generally regarded as the toughest in the world.

He started the day seven off the lead and was the only player from the overnight top-10 to break par in the final round. His sensational two-under 68 set the clubhouse target at one over par.

But Spaun birdied the 17th to get to level par and then produced his moment of magic on the final green to send the drenched masses surround the putting surface wild.

It was quite the turnaround by the Californian, who started the round one shot behind overnight leader Sam Burns, and bogeyed five of his first six holes to seemingly drop out of contention.

However, after torrential rain stopped play for an hour and a half, Spaun regained his composure to follow a front nine of 40 shots with a back nine of 32.

“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” he said.

“I’ve always had aspirations and dreams but a few months ago I didn’t know what my ceiling was and how good I could be.”

While Spaun was climbing the leaderboard, the ragged play of others added to the drama.

Burns, who had led after rounds two and three, drowned in the rain, alongside playing partner Adam Scott. They endured nightmare rounds of eight and nine over par respectively to finish well off the pace.

At one stage on the back nine, five players shared the lead at one over par, including England’s Tyrrell Hatton who played outstandingly for 16 holes but stumbled at the 17th and finished four back.

Four bogeys on the front nine derailed Norway’s Viktor Hovland but a level-par closing nine saw him home in 73 to claim third place on three over.

Spaun grows tall at rain-soaked Oakmont

Getty Images

Back in March, JJ Spaun was inches from landing a 31-foot birdie on the 18th hole to beat Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship. He was then defeated by the Northern Irishman in a play-off.

At the US Open, he went one better – from twice the distance – and he celebrated wildly before succumbing to his tears.

The putt ensured he was the only player to navigate 72 holes at brutal Oakmont Country Club under par – a fitting finish for the sole man to shoot a bogey-free round this week with his stunning 66 on Thursday.

And yet his final round was littered with bad breaks – and bogeys.

A horror start seemed to have cost him his chance at a career-changing title – his approach at the second hitting the flagpole before rolling 50 yards away, and then bouncing his ball off a rake at the fourth on his way to five bogeys in six holes.

But, while almost everyone else was speeding down the leaderboard, he showed remarkable composure after the rain break to haul himself back into contention.

Birdie putts from 40 and 22 feet lifted him into the lead and, after a bogey at the 15th, his stellar tee shot that found the green at the par-four 17th helped him secure another birdie. And the second best putter in the field by strokes gained sealed matters in style at the last.

“The weather delay changed the whole vibe for the day,” he said.

Brilliant MacIntyre falls short as Hatton curses ‘bad luck’

Robert MacIntyreGetty Images

Spaun’s birdie putt ended MacIntyre’s chances of winning but this stunning performance serves notice of his own major ambitions.

“I’m a guy that believes,” he said. “Having a chance to win a major is what I dreamed of as a kid.”

MacIntyre began the day at three over par and bogeyed two of his first three holes to slip to five over, nine shots adrift of the lead.

However, with Oakmont and the weather wreaking havoc on the scorecards of the leading groups, he began to climb the standings.

A 60-foot eagle at the fourth erased the early damage and, after play returned, he made further birdies at the ninth, 14th and 17th to set the clubhouse lead at one over par, a score good enough for solo second.

Before this tournament he was 11th in the qualification stakes for Europe’s Ryder Cup defence against the United States at the similarly fearsome Bethpage Black in September, a position that will now improve.

His game also looks in good shape for next month’s defence of his 2024 Scottish Open title and a tilt at the following week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Hatton, meanwhile, could not hide his frustration after his excellent championship was undone by finding the downslope of thick rough at 17.

“What happened on 17 is going to hurt a lot for a long time,” he said. “It was the first time I’ve been in contention in a major, and that was exciting.

“Unfortunately, I feel like through a bit of bad luck I had momentum taken away from me and it ultimately ended up not being my day.”

A bogey-bogey finish meant Hatton ended three over, one ahead of world number one Scottie Scheffler – who never threatened to seriously close the gap – and Jon Rahm who shot a three-under 67, the joint best round of the day.

Related topics

  • Golf

Spaun holds off MacIntyre to win dramatic US Open

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

  • 36 Comments

Leaderboard: -1 Spaun (US); +1 MacIntyre (Sco); +2 Hovland (Nor); +3 Hatton (Eng); Young (US), Ortiz (Mex), +4 Burns (US), Scheffler (US) Rahm (Spa); +5 Scott (Aus), Griffin (US), Henley (US)

Selected others: +6 Schauffele (US), Koepka (US); +7 McIlroy (NI); +8 Wallace (Eng), Spieth (US), +9 Rai (Eng); +11 Fitzpatrick (Eng); +15 Canter (US)

America’s JJ Spaun overcame a flooded golf course, a 90-minute rain delay and the brilliance of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre to win the US Open on a chaotic final day at Oakmont Country Club.

The 34-year-old, who needed a par on the last to win his first major, holed an incredible 65-foot birdie putt to win by two on one under.

MacIntyre, who started the day seven off the lead, was the only player from the overnight top-10 to break par in the final round as he shot a sensational two-under 68 to set the clubhouse target at one over par.

But Spaun birdied the 17th to move one clear and then produced his moment of magic on the final green to send the drenched masses surround the putting surface wild.

The Californian, who started the round one shot off leader Sam Burns, bogeyed five of his first six holes to seemingly drop out of contention.

However, after torrential rain stopped play for an hour and a half, Spaun regained his composure to follow a front nine of 40 shots with a back nine of 32.

“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” he said.

“I’ve always had aspirations and dreams but a few months ago I didn’t know what my ceiling was and how good I could be.”

While Spaun was climbing the leaderboard, the ragged play of others added to the drama.

Overnight leader Burns and playing partner Adam Scott drowned in the rain, enduring nightmare rounds of eight and nine over par respectively to finish well off the pace.

At one stage, five players had shared the lead at one over par, including England’s Tyrrell Hatton who played outstandingly through 16 holes but imploded at the 17th and finished four back.

Spaun grows tall at rain-soaked Oakmont

Getty Images

Back in March, JJ Spaun was inches from landing a birdie on the 18th hole from 31 feet to beat Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship and went on to lose in a play-off.

At the US Open, he went one better, from twice the distance, and he celebrated wildly before succumbing to his tears.

The putt ensured he was the only player to navigate 72 holes at brutal Oakmont Country Club under par – a fitting finish for the sole man to shoot a bogey-free round this week with his stunning 66 on Thursday.

And yet his final round was littered with bad breaks – and bogeys.

A horror start seemed to have cost him his chance at a career-changing title – his approach at the second hitting the flagpole before rolling 50 yards away, and then bouncing his ball off a rake at the fourth on his way to five bogeys in six holes.

But, while almost everyone else was speeding down the leaderboard, he showed remarkable composure after the rain break to haul himself back into contention.

Monster putts from 40 feet and 22 feet got him into the lead and, after a bogey at the 15th, his stellar tee shot at 17 earned him another birdie before the best putter in the field sealed matters in style at the last.

“The weather delay changed the whole vibe for the day,” he said.

Related topics

  • Golf

Big Zuu and Tevez shine as Soccer Aid raises £15m

Getty Images

Big Zuu scored the winner as a Carlos Tevez-inspired World XI beat England in front of a sellout Old Trafford crowd for Soccer Aid.

In the 14th edition of the annual charity football match between England and a World XI – which mixes celebrities and former footballers – the World XI won 5-4, as £15m was raised for children’s charity Unicef.

They had trailed 3-0 in the second half but turned things around thanks to four goals from former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez.

All four of England’s goalscorers were former England international strikers, with ex-Tottenham player Jermain Defoe getting a double after former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney and Toni Duggan – who played for clubs including Manchester City and Barcelona – had put England 2-0 up.

Among plenty of former football talents, the two sides featured the likes of former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson, YouTuber Angry Ginge, Diamond from Gladiator, comedian Richard Gadd, Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farah and The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey.

And while pop star Tomlinson was roundly cheered whenever he touched the ball, the plaudits went to England’s Angry Ginge.

Big Zuu drops a ‘siuuu’

Big Zuu celebrates after scoringGetty Images

Rapper and TV personality Zuu had been conducting punditry duties until half-time, and predicted he would score before stepping on to the pitch.

He scored his first Soccer Aid goal with just five minutes remaining, mimicking Cristiano Ronaldo’s iconic ‘siuuu’ celebration after beating the goalkeeper – comedian and presenter Paddy McGuinness.

Welcome to Manchester, Carlos

Carlos Tevez points to his ear after scoring a goalGetty Images

Tevez, 41, left Old Trafford during his playing days to join rivals Manchester City.

It prompted a bitter reaction from United fans, while City marked his arrival with a “Welcome to Manchester” poster campaign designed to annoy their rivals.

But on his return to the city, having come on at half-time with his team 2-0 down, he scored four second-half goals to turn the match around.

The first two goals came within 97 seconds of each other, before Tevez completed his hat-trick with a well placed free-kick.

Record-breaker Rooney

Wayne Rooney looks up to the skyGetty Images

Manchester United’s record goalscorer Rooney is no stranger to making history at Old Trafford, and managed it again at the Stretford End.

His goal after just four minutes is the fastest in Soccer Aid history.

The former England captain was teed up by a fellow Liverpudlian, actor James Nelson-Joyce from BBC drama This City Is Ours.

Rooney was taking up a player-coach role for the England team, with fellow managers boxer Tyson Fury, ex-football boss Harry Redknapp and actor Vicky McClure.

What is Soccer Aid?

Diego Maradona in 2006 Soccer AidGetty Images

Soccer Aid has been raising money for United Nations children’s fund Unicef since 2006, and some of the biggest names from sport and showbiz have taken part.

The idea was initiated by singer Robbie Williams and TV presenter Jonathan Wilkes, with football legends Diego Maradona and Paul Gascoigne featuring in the first edition.

Initially held every other year, the match was made annual from 2018 – with more than £115m raised since its inception.

Related topics

  • Football

Ciganda ends nine-year LPGA Tour victory drought

Getty Images

Carlota Ciganda finished one stroke clear of Choi Hye-jin to claim her first LPGA Tour victory in almost nine years at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan.

The Spaniard birdied the final two holes at the Blythefield Country Club to card a five-under-par 67 to end at 16 under overall, with a bogey at the 17th proving costly for her playing partner from South Korea.

Ciganda, 35, whose two previous wins on the LPGA Tour came within a month of each other in October and November 2016, said: “It feels amazing, obviously, after all these years.

“I knew I could do it, but obviously once the years keep going and you start getting older you start doubting yourself.”

Part of a six-way tie for the lead at the start of the fourth round, Ciganda also held off Somi Lee, who finished third at 14 under.

Meanwhile, Lexi Thompson finished on 13 under alongside Celine Boutier and Nanna Koerstz Madsen after dropping shots on the 16th and 17th holes, while England’s Bronte Law was in a tie for seventh on 12 under.

“I love coming here,” added Ciganda, who has also won eight times on the Ladies European Tour.

Related topics

  • Golf

A footballing mismatch – why were Auckland City playing Bayern Munich?

Getty Images
  • 483 Comments

It was one of the biggest mismatches you are ever likely to see in professional football.

For New Zealand part-timers Auckland City, upsetting 34-time German champions and six-time Uefa Champions League winners Bayern Munich was always going to be a tall order – to put it very mildly.

Once Kingsley Coman opened the scoring after five minutes at the TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, those dreams of an almighty shock were all but extinguished.

By full-time, Bayern had hit double figures for the first time since August 2021 to set a new Club World Cup record.

It was 10-0 – and it could have been more.

Bayern have won by a 10-goal margin in the Bundesliga before – achieving an 11-1 win over Dortmund in 1971 – and the 2021 double-figure game was a 12-0 cup trouncing of regional league team Bremer.

For a while against Auckland, it looked as if the German giants’ club-record 16-1 win over DJK Waldberg in the 1997-98 DFB Cup might come under threat.

Goals from Sacha Boey, Michael Olise and Coman made it 4-0 midway through the first half, with Thomas Muller and Olise then scoring Bayern’s fifth and sixth before the interval – matching the six goals scored by Al-Hilal against Al Jazira in the previous record victory at the Club World Cup.

A mismatch on and off the pitch

Auckland were perhaps fortunate not to lose by a heavier margin as Bayern peppered their goal with 31 attempts – including 17 on target – while enjoying 72% of possession.

The New Zealanders managed only shot at Manuel Neuer’s goal – Angus Kilkolly’s low drive which was easily saved by the veteran goalkeeper.

The gaping chasm between the two sides on the pitch is mirrored off it…

Bayern are currently ranked sixth in Opta’s Power Rankings – a global team ranking system – but Auckland are down in 5,074th, over 2,500 places below English National League side York City.

The next lowest-ranked team in the Club World Cup are UAE outfit Al Ain, who sit 625th.

While Bayern boast some of the biggest names in world football, Auckland’s team includes a primary school teacher, an insurance broker, a barber, a sales representative at Coca-Cola, a car retailer, and several students.

Dream or embarrassing? New format faces scrutiny

Fifa’s decision to expand the Club World Cup from seven to 32 teams this summer has already sparked legal complaints from players’ union Fifpro and the World Leagues Association.

But the gulf in class between Bayern and Auckland on Sunday is likely to raise further questions about the new format of the competition.

Winners of the Oceania Champions League in each of the past four years, Auckland have made it to the tournament on that merit. Indeed, the New Zealanders are appearing in the competition for the 12th time – more than any other side.

However, whether they should be in the same group as a club of Bayern’s stature is another matter.

In last year’s Fifa Intercontinental Cup, which comprised six teams and effectively replaced the Club World Cup in 2024, Auckland were thumped 6-2 by Al Ain in a preliminary play-off.

And in the final seven-team Club World Cup in 2023, they lost 3-0 to Saudi club Al-Ittihad in the opening game.

“These games are so special for Auckland City,” said former England midfielder Anita Asante, who was co-commentating on the game for Channel 5. “These guys are heroes to lots of budding football stars in New Zealand.”

Fans following BBC Sport’s live text coverage of the game were less enamoured by Sunday’s mismatch:

Was there any sympathy for the New Zealanders from their opponents?

So how did Auckland qualify?

The only OFC team competing in the Club World Cup, Auckland qualified for the Club World Cup as the best OFC Champions League winners over the ranking period between 2021 and 2024.

They have dominated their continental competition in recent years, winning it 13 times since 2006.

They won four and drew one of their five games in the most recent edition of the tournament, scoring 13 goals and conceding just twice.

Reflecting on Sunday’s defeat, Auckland’s interim coach Ivan Vicelich said: “This [result] is the reality of football against one of the world’s top teams.

“It’s a dream for players coming from an amateur level to play in this environment. We knew it was going to be a very difficult game, playing against one of the top teams in the world – potentially one of the favourites – so we’re just really proud of the players’ efforts.”

Bayern boss Vincent Kompany added: “We have to remain modest, but it was important to be able to say that we took the game seriously.

“It was a good first match at the tournament, but of course challengers are going to grow and it’s going to become more difficult.”

The Bundesliga champions take on Argentine giants Boca Juniors in their next Group C encounter on Friday local in Miami (Saturday 02:00 BST).

Related topics

  • Football