Lando Norris narrowly missed crashing into the back of Yuki Tsunoda during FP3 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and F1 fans have expressed their opinions on the near-miss.
During a flying lap in the final practice session of the F1’s 2025 season finale, Lando Norris was forced to take avoiding action upon his approach into turn 17 at the Yas Marina circuit due to a slow-moving Yuki Tsunoda.
Norris was very lucky to come away from the incident unscathed, due to the blind nature of the entry that turn 17 demands.
The incident came after Max Verstappen was flagged for impeding his title rival during Friday’s first practice session.
Both drivers are currently locked into an intense championship battle, with Verstappen needing Norris to finish off the podium in order for him to have half a chance of securing the title.
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F1 fans react to Lando Norris’ near-miss with Yuki Tsunoda in FP3 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
After a replay showed Norris having to take avoiding action against the RB21 suddenly appearing in front of him, fans took to social media to discuss the incident.
Some fans were shaken by how close the near-miss was, with one fan on X (formerly Twitter) commenting, “That was so close. Unbelievable reaction.”
Another fan on Reddit shared a similar reaction, posting, “Oh shoot, that was close!”
The overwhelming sentiment was that Tsunoda should be given a penalty for his role in the incident, with one fan on Reddit commenting, “Damn, that was very dangerous. I know it’s free practice, but it probably still deserves a penalty.”
Another user echoed the same feeling, writing, “Man, that should be some kind of penalty for Yuki.” If Norris had crashed into the back of the Red Bull driver, it would have given McLaren engineers a stressful job of repairing the MCL39 in time for qualifying.
Some fans think it’s part of Red Bull’s plan to get inside the mind of Norris ahead of the Grand Prix showdown on Sunday. One fan wrote, “Red Bull has to be doing this on purpose to make Norris shaky for the race.”
Another Reddit user agreed, commenting, “Yesterday Max, and now Yuki. Nice mind games by RBR there.”
Do you think Yuki Tsunoda should be penalised for impeding Lando Norris during FP3?
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David Croft highlighted how the move wasn’t intentional, and Yuki Tsunoda apologised after the incident
During Sky Sports F1’s live coverage of FP3 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, David Croft highlighted the fact that Tsunoda apologised for the incident, which was more of an error on the side of his race engineer rather than the Red Bull driver himself.
Croft said (06/12 10:58), “We were just seeing a little replay of Yuki Tsunoda, what’s the word I’m looking for… dawdling on the racing line, and Lando Norris approaching him at a rate of knots.
“Now, Yuki has said sorry, and obviously didn’t realise Lando was there, but we keep saying it, keep off the racing line if you’re doing that sort of speed. That was a great reaction there from Lando Norris.”
Nico Rosberg also chimed in with his view on the near-miss, saying, “That was very, very dangerous, because it’s a blind corner.
“You come through there completely blind, and there’s Yuki in the middle, just going slowly, which in itself is a bit of a strange thing to do. That will definitely be reported to the stewards because it was very dangerous.”
Rosberg was involved in a similar incident during the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The former F1 driver clashed with Narain Karthikeyan after his HRT F1 car suffered a hydraulics issue upon his entry into the same section of corners.
Rosberg crashed into the back of the Indian driver and was subsequently sent flying over the top of the HRT in a very scary turn of events.
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