The admission came only after the stewards had already closed the file.

“It’s pretty straightforward. I can’t attempt what I did. I should never have attempted it,” Norris told reporters in comments carried by Reuters.

“It was a mistake on my part, and I let down the team.”

Those were not the words he reached for first. On team radio moments after the contact, Norris had defended the move: “Sorry about that. Obviously I didn’t want that to happen but I thought I was fully alongside. I just ran out of space at the apex but I was there,” he told his engineer. His first post-race line was that he had every right to go for the gap.

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Turn 5, final lap

The crash ended Oscar Piastri’s sprint on the last tour of Marina Bay. The pair were running fourth and fifth, chasing Charles Leclerc, when Norris dived to the inside at Turn 5. The gap closed, the McLarens made contact, and Piastri went into the wall. Norris limped home eighth for a single point, a race in which McLaren had been in line for nine.

Max Verstappen won the sprint from pole.

The stewards reviewed the contact and issued no penalty, ruling that both drivers had contributed and that neither was wholly or predominantly to blame.

‘The glass is empty’

Team principal Andrea Stella did not share the stewards’ calm.

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“The glass is empty, because when two McLarens make contact in that way and cause a material damage, there’s a significant flaw,” Stella said.

“The team interest comes before any personal interest.”

Stella said he was not looking for apologies, only for a plan to make sure it did not happen again. McLaren sit third in the constructors’ championship on 339 points, seven ahead of Red Bull, with Ferrari second on 444 and Mercedes clear at the top on 578.

Piastri, for his part, offered the shortest line of the weekend.

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“From where I sit, it’s for fourth and fifth for a sprint race so I’m not that bothered either way. Just obviously it’s a lot of work now for the team to get both cars fixed.”

Sunday followed Saturday

In Sunday’s Grand Prix, Verstappen won again ahead of Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli. Norris crossed the line fourth, Piastri fifth, with neither on the podium.

The paddock heads next to Austin, with the United States Grand Prix on 25 October.

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