Involved in several crashes this season, Lando Norris has told Nyck de Vries he should “try braking a bit earlier”.

Five races into the Formula 1 season, De Vries’ first full year on the grid, and the AlphaTauri driver is already a man under pressure as he’s yet to score a point with his chances undone by one too many start or restart crashes.

He was one of the drivers caught up in the late-race chaos at the Australian Grand Prix while one race later in Baku he tangled with his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda on the opening lap of the sprint race. That weekend he also crashed in qualifying and again in the grand prix.

This time in Miami it was Norris who felt the hit, De Vries crashing into him at the start of the grand prix. The McLaren driver wasn’t at all impressed.

“He’s done that a bit lately,” he said as per Motorsport.com. “He should try braking a bit earlier.”

But, given McLaren’s woeful pace around the Miami International Autodrome, the Briton admitted: “It hasn’t changed my day, I would say.

“I don’t know how bad the damage was. It was definitely a bit, but that’s not why we lacked pace. We were just incredibly slow today.”

PlanetF1.com recommends

Miami GP driver ratings: Max Verstappen a cut above on way to dominant win

The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

De Vries took responsibility for his clash with Norris, revealing he locked up and that’s what sent him into the back of the McLaren.

“Lando had a very good start,” he said, “moved to the left and was therefore right in front of me. And then I locked. My mistake.

“I locked up both my front wheels and we touched and went wide. That was it.”

The stewards declared it a racing incident, the Dutchman agreeing with that. “Yes, especially since he got in front of me quite late at point where we start to brake. So I couldn’t really respond.

“Or yes, what I could do was hit the brake harder, which I did, but then my wheels locked up. It was very unfortunate for both of us.”

Norris finished the grand prix down in 17th place with De Vries behind him in 18th.

AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost weighed in on his driver’s crashes in the build-up to the Miami Grand Prix weekend after the driver crashed twice in Baku.

“There’s, as I always say, a learning process and a crash period,” he said, “because if the drivers don’t crash, they don’t know the limit.

“This is a credit you must give them, otherwise it doesn’t work.

“And there was no driver not crashing. I remember that Sebastian [Vettel] in the first races came back the first lap most often without the nose. That’s part of the game.”

The article Lando Norris’ advice for Nyck de Vries amidst growing reputation appeared first on Planetf1.com.