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Norris: Stroll drove as though I'd disappeared in Spanish GP clash

The Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1 stewards will not penalise Lance Stroll or Lando Norris for the Barcelona collision that made Norris question whether Stroll thought his McLaren had "disappeared".

Stroll and Norris came together while battling for 14th position with 21 laps to go, that forced both to retire on the spot and prompted a safety car.

Norris had attempted a move around the outside of Stroll into the Turn 1 right-hander and remained to Stroll's left - which was now the inside line into the left-handed Turn 2 - when the Racing Point began to turn in, triggering the collision with the McLaren.

The stewards felt that the collision did not satisfy the criteria of one driver being "wholly or predominantly to blame" that would prompt a sanction under F1 rules.

Their statement read: "The driver of car #4 [Norris] believed that he had the right to be allowed 'racing room' into Turn 2 whereas the driver of car #18 [Stroll] stated that he was on the racing line in Turn 1 and had to take Turn 2 by remaining on the racing line.

"He stated he was not aware at that point of the location of car #4.

"The stewards believe that the driver of car #4 could have backed out of the attempted overtake into Turn 2 and also that the driver of car #18 might have been more aware of the possibility that car #4 could be on his inside."

Asked by Autosport before the stewards' hearing whether he had considered backing out of the move, Norris said: "Well, he knew I was there on the entry to Turn 1. I don't know what he was thinking after that.

"I was still on the outside, I had a decent part of my car on the outside for Turn 2.

"But as soon as he started to turn in to the left, I could tell that he either thought that I completely backed out of it, or I disappeared, or I don't know what.

"At a point I knew he was just going to turn in and not give me enough room, I had to try and back out and do what I can but I didn't have enough time."

When asked about the collision by Autosport, Stroll insisted there was not enough space in the corner for the two of them to go through side-by-side.

"I didn't really see the replay so I'll have to check it out in detail, but there was not much room there," Stroll said before going to the stewards.

"I have to make the corner, so I turned in, and there was not really much I could do.

"I braked on the inside and went deep into the first corner, and then I had to turn into the next corner and unfortunately just not enough space for both cars."

Norris could be heard apologising after the incident, but he clarified that his apologies were "definitely not meant" for Stroll.

"If I end up out of the race because of a crash - I'm the one driving, I'm the one making the decisions," Norris explained.

"Whether I shouldn't have risked trying to overtake him... I don't know.

"I'm just sorry because I'm the one driving and I let the team down for just not finishing the race."

Zdroj: autosport.com