Oscar Piastri called out for 'nasty' Lando Norris tactic as McLaren ace breaks golden rule

Jacques Villeneuve has taken issue with 's defending against , describing his move to the left-hand side of the track as 'nasty', with his defending breaking a golden rule of wheel-to-wheel combat. The championship leader closed the door on his rival, who ran into the back of his McLaren car. The incident occurred on lap 67 with Norris hounding the Australian for fourth place.

After briefly overtaking him with a divebomb at Turn 10, Piastri regained the position on the run down to the final chicane after maximising the slipstream and DRS from Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli ahead. Norris got a strong run out of the chicane, but with the inside covered off, his chances of an overtake around the outside at Turn One were slim. Instead, he made the brave call to hang it out on the inside as the track faded right. With Piastri unwavering in his defence, the gap closed and , taking the Bristol-born driver out of the race.

While Villeneuve pinned the blame for the contact on Piastri, Norris didn't feel the same way. After the contact, he immediately took responsibility and maintained this stance throughout his post-race interviews, even making a quick apology to his team-mate in the media pen.

With the Austrian Grand Prix next up, Norris will be desperate to secure a rapid response. The 25-year-old is 22 points behind Piastri at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings, with Max Verstappen now only 21 points further back in third place.

"It was mainly a race of attrition on the tyres basically, they were all massaging the tyres instead of pushing hard. Sainz got a point, a good recovery, but then , [it was] easy to point the finger at Norris.

"He realised too late that Piastri was moving towards the left because he had his nose in the gearbox of Piastri, he didn't realise it, and Piastri was edging gradually towards the left. He's not supposed to be doing that; it was a little bit nasty, so there will be some talks later inside the team."

While Villeneuve pinned the blame for the contact on Piastri, Norris didn't feel the same way. After the contact, he immediately took responsibility and maintained this stance throughout his post-race interviews, even making a quick apology to his team-mate in the media pen.

With the Austrian Grand Prix next up, Norris will be desperate to secure a rapid response. The 25-year-old is 22 points behind Piastri at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings, with Max Verstappen now only 21 points further back in third place.