Norris promises to make "better decisions" following fresh talks over Singapore GP clash
McLaren has held further talks on Lando Norris' Singapore Grand Prix sprint race clash with Oscar Piastri as the team now considers the matter as case closed
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images
Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has conceded he needs to make "better decisions" as McLaren aims to draw a line under his clash with team-mate Oscar Piastri in Singapore.
Norris drew the ire of his bosses for colliding into Piastri during their battle for fourth on the final lap of the Marina Bay sprint race, costing eight points and going against McLaren's principles.
Team boss Andrea Stella revealed that the Woking outfit would hold further talks back at HQ and it is understood those talks happened last week.
McLaren is now keen to move on from the incident as Norris, who finished the sprint in eighth with Piastri retiring, apologised for his error of judgement.
“I take responsibility for my mistakes, and I learn from them," Norris was quoted in the team's preview for this weekend's United States Grand Prix.
"This team is my motivation every weekend, and my aim is to repay the hard work everyone puts in by improving, making better decisions, and representing the team in the best possible way.”
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
The 26-year-old's clash with Piastri added to what had been a tough triple-header for McLaren, who failed to score a podium and had no answer for the upgraded Red Bull.
Red Bull took back-to-back wins via Max Verstappen in Malaysia and Singapore - Mercedes' George Russell won in Azerbaijan - and is now only seven points behind third-placed McLaren with six rounds remaining.
Stella, whose squad has won the last two constructors' titles, said: "After a difficult triple-header, we take the lessons learned from both our performance and execution and put them into action.
"In F1, success is never guaranteed – so our response is to keep building, keep developing, and keep pushing forward together as one team."
McLaren brings latest round of upgrades after performance falls flat
McLaren had brought its own upgrades to the MCL40 too, and while it was left confused by its lack of performance in Malaysia, Singapore further underlined that while its own updates appear to work as intended, it had simply been out-developed by Red Bull.
Second-placed Ferrari, meanwhile, was also extremely strong on the high-downforce Marina Bay Street Circuit, and runaway leader Mercedes has also added performance to its car.
McLaren is now bringing its latest round of relatively minor upgrades this weekend, largely focused on the front of the car, as it hopes Austin will suit the MCL40 better. It has also applied further tweaks to make its drivers feel more confident under braking.
"We’re bringing a modest selection of upgrades for this event, aimed at improving some braking reliability and performance issues," said chief designer Rob Marshall.
"We also have some small floor changes to test. We have all seen how difficult it is to predict the relative performance of the top teams over the last five or six races. Obviously, there are many factors in play here: cars being upgraded, cars suiting and drivers liking certain circuits among other factors.
"The last few races have not been great for us, but I think we’re getting stronger again and Austin is probably a better circuit for our car."
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