Grosjean apologises after Brown ’chainsaw’ attack

Romain Grosjean has apologised after accusing Zak Brown of effectively destroying Oscar Piastri’s morale.

After Norris produced what he himself called one of the best laps of his career, McLaren CEO Brown said: "The whole lap was amazing... he’s a world champion."

On Norris’ struggling teammate Piastri, the McLaren boss added: "I think you’ve got Lando on his A-plus game."

"Oscar has been right there with him all weekend and just didn’t get that same extra that lap. He’ll look at the data and probably do what we all did and go: ’Wow, what a lap!’"

But speaking on Canal Plus, Grosjean initially interpreted the remarks very differently.

"I saw a statement from Zak Brown about Lando’s lap, and he cut apart Oscar Piastri with a chainsaw," said the former Formula 1 driver.

"If there was any morale left to him, it’s gone. The harshness, the violence of the statement."

Grosjean even paraphrased Brown as effectively saying Norris was simply better.

"He could’ve mentioned at least that Oscar led the championship, that they asked him in Monza to let Lando through, which maybe wasn’t the right thing."

"It left me speechless."

But a day later, Grosjean - now in IndyCar - reversed course on social media.

"I completely misunderstood his words and want to apologise for that," he said.

"I know how important it is to Zak and the entire McLaren team to respect their drivers and treat them fairly and equally."

"I’m sure both Lando and Oscar will have another chance to fight for the win in Baku."