Norris and Stroll let off the hook by stewards after Spanish GP clash

McLaren's Lando Norris and Racing Point's Lance Stroll both escaped punishment from the stewards following their on-track clash in the Spanish Grand Prix.

In the latter part of Sunday's race, on lap 44, Norris challenged Stroll into the left-hander Turn 2 only for the pair to make contact when the Racing Point driver's left rear wheel ran over the right front wheel of the McLaren.

The clash sent Stroll into the gravel trap and out of the race while Norris was forced to stop a little further up the road, the incident also triggering the deployment of the Safety Car.

"It was pretty simple to be honest," Norris said after the race, before both men head to the stewards' office.

"He cut across the front of my car and he put himself out of the race and me out of the race.

"So a bit annoyed I didn’t get to finish my fifth grand prix, but at the end of the day we weren’t in the points so it didn’t cost us as much as it could have done in another race or anything."

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Stroll defended his position on the track: "I didn’t really see the replay so I’ll have to check it out in detail, but there was not much room there.

"I had to make the corner, so I turned in. There wasn’t much I could do.

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

Ultimately, the unfortunate encounter was deemed a racing incident by the stewards.

"The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 4 (Lando Norris), the driver of car 18 (Lance Stroll) and the team representatives," explained an FIA stewards statement.

"Car 4 attempted to pass car 18, on the outside, in turn 1 but did not in the view of the stewards, complete the overtake because the car 4 was not completely alongside car 18.

"The driver of car 4 believed that he had the right to be allowed 'racing room' into turn 2 whereas the driver of car 18 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.

"Accordingly, we believe that neither driver was “wholly or predominantly to blame” and therefore in accordance with Article 38.2 a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, 'no penalty will be imposed'."

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