Lando Norris' McLaren punishment 'not a big deal' as he and Oscar Piastri crash AGAIN

McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri collided in the last race at Singapore - doing so again on Saturday in America - but the penalty for the Brit is only a minor one

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Martin Brundle has claimed that the "repurcussions" coming Lando Norris' way are "not a big deal" with the McLaren driver receiving an unknown punishment after hitting Oscar Piastri during the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Brit is in the midst of a title fight with his team-mate, which could soon become a three-man battle if Max Verstappen continues to close in. Norris finished ahead of Piastri at the last race in Singapore after passing him on the opening lap.

Replays showed that Norris barged into his Australian team-mate, overtaking him and never looking back. Piastri was vocal about his frustrations and the team said they would review it after the race - which they've seen done and appeared to side with him.

Norris, who trails his team-mate by 18 points heading into Sunday's race in America, won't get away scot-free with McLaren CEO Zak Brown claiming: "We just want to make sure that, while they’re racing hard, they don’t come together.

“That puts them at risk, puts the team at risk, and so we agreed with them in the offseason how we would handle certain situations. We worked with them with different consequences for different situations. It was a pretty minor situation, so it’s a pretty minor consequence.”

No clarity has been given on what Norris' punishment may look like but Brundle claimed it is nothing excessive and likely won't be served until the grid head to Las Vegas for their street race.

He said on Sky Sports : “Unusually, actually, they’re free to race from lights out to the flag, as long as they don’t run into each other. But somehow, that’s become a bit of a saga, hasn’t it?

"I do know what the repercussions are, because it’s my business to know things that go on in Formula 1. It’s not my business to say what they are. They’re not a big deal. They’re really not. Something that might play out, I don’t know, in Vegas or whatever."

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In Saturday's sprint race in Austin the two McLaren drivers again collided with Piastri hitting Norris, resulting in them both being out before the end of lap 1. Brown though put the blame squarely with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

He said: "That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there. That's some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, (they) wacked out two guys. I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar."

Verstappen claimed sprint victory, closing the gap by a further eight points, and is on pole ahead of Sunday as he looks to close in even more. Norris is alongside him in second but Piastri, who has just one win in his last five races, is back in sixth as his difficult weekend continues.