Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc crash in pit lane at Singapore GP | F1 | Sport

Charles Leclerc faces a trip to the FIA stewards after he crashed into McLaren‘s Lando Norris in the pit lane. The incident occurred during a dramatic second practice session at the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday.

All 10 teams were looking to leave the pit lane after the clock resumed following a red flag delay, triggered by Liam Lawson’s crash in the final sector. Norris was exiting his McLaren garage with team-mate Oscar Piastri in close quarters when Leclerc was released right into the path of the British racer.

The driver of the No.4 McLaren machine sped up in an attempt to avoid contact, but the two cars banged wheels, sending the MCL38 into the outside pit lane wall. Ferrari‘s engineers then helped their papaya-clad counterparts in pushing Norris’ stricken car back into the garage.

Fortunately for the Brit, the damage did not seem significant and all that was required to get him back out on track was a change of front wing. But, perhaps still irritated by that incident, he sounded frustrated over the radio in the final seconds of Friday practice as he lamented the fact he was half-a-second off the pace of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

When his race engineer suggested a different approach to his programme, Norris snapped to tell them that his car was not the problem, suggesting that it was his driving that was making the difference. And, to cap off his evening under the lights at the Marina Bay Circuit, he locked his wheels at one corner on his final push lap to leave him fifth on the timesheets.

Commenting on the pit lane incident for Sky Sports, pundit Jamie Chadwick said: “That was super clumsy. The kind of thing that shouldn’t really happen, but I am surprised really that it doesn’t happen more often. Charles can’t really do anything – he’s blind to the oncoming cars and he’s seen it at the last minute.

“You’re so reliant on the guy that is sending you from the garage, that is the person you look at and as soon as they say it’s clear, you go. He has gone straight into the path of Lando and there was nothing Lando or Charles can do. I think they will be getting a big fine and maybe a penalty.

“I’m not sure if there was any long-standing damage, but if there was damage and Lando’s session was done, that’s his weekend compromised because of something out of his control. If that was any other situation, if on track Charles had crashed into him, then he probably would get a penalty. So even though it’s not Charles’ direct fault, I think there needs to be a bigger deterrent.”