🔗 Share this article

The British driver states that "any driver on the starting lineup" would have made the move that caused renewed tension between Norris and fellow driver Oscar Piastri during the recent race.

Norris made contact with Piastri on the exit of turn three at the Singapore circuit after a bump with Max Verstappen's Red Bull caused him to slide.

The collision threatens to disrupt the carefully maintained harmony that McLaren has managed to maintain between their two drivers through thoughtful management.

Entering the event, Norris trailed his teammate by 25 points in the points table, and reduced that gap by only a small amount after taking the final podium spot behind winner George Russell and the Red Bull star, with Piastri close behind in P4.

Driver Perspectives

Norris insisted he had done nothing wrong in passing Piastri.

"Every driver on the starting lineup would have done what I did," he stated. "Should you fault me for taking a racing gap, you shouldn't be in Formula 1.

"My car was slightly too close to Verstappen, but that's racing. Nothing serious happened, I'm certain I would have finished in front of Piastri anyway because he had the less favorable part of the track on the outside.

"Of course I need to analyze it and the worst scenario I want is contact with my teammate. I am the one who must avoid any incidents. I would endanger my position just as much if that occurred.

"I'll review it but the governing body clearly thought it was acceptable and the McLaren did, too."

Norris denied he had been overly aggressive with his teammate. "I made contact with Max," he explained, "so I wasn't forceful with my teammate."

McLaren's Response

The Australian showed displeasure about the incident. He communicated over the team radio that the squad's choice to take no action about it was "unjust."

Post-event, he was circumspect, stating he needed to review the situation before commenting further.

"The primary issue is two cars coming together," he commented. "That's never what we desire, so I'll analyze it in greater detail."

The Australian has already been the competitor to suffer in no fewer than two controversial situations this year.

During the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was the team's frontrunner initially but Norris was permitted to use a different strategy to overtake his partner, a decision that rival teams have questioned.

During the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was instructed to allow his teammate through for second place after the Briton was held up by a slow pit stop. He complained that he believed there had been an understanding that a delayed service was just part of racing that had to be accepted, but acquiesced regardless.

Internally, he was unhappy about that circumstance, and he and the team conducted talks to resolve it.

But questioned after the Singapore Grand Prix whether he had any concerns that Norris might be getting favoritism, Piastri responded: "No."

Was he convinced the squad had been fair all season?

"Ultimately, yes," Piastri stated. "Could things have been better at certain points? Certainly, but finally it's a learning process with the whole squad and I'm very happy that the aims are positive, if that makes sense."

Management Perspective

McLaren boss the Italian said: "We'll have thorough reviews, productive conversations and, like after Canada, we'll come back stronger and more cohesive."

The team principal stated that although the team had analyzed the collision in its direct consequence, "this contact is, in reality, a result of different circumstances that happened between Lando and Verstappen."

Stella added: "Piastri made some comments while he was in the car but that's the type of character that we want from our drivers. They have to make their position clear, that's what we ask of them.

"Our analysis needs to be extremely thorough, highly methodical, it needs to consider the perspective of our two drivers, and then we will form a shared understanding upon which we will determine whether we can just confirm our first assessment or there's something else that we should decide.

"Every time we start our discussions with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a foundation: 'This is challenging'.

"Because this is the single area in which, when you race together, in fact you can't have identical objectives for the two drivers, because they want to pursue their personal goals. This is a core concept of the way we race at the team.

"We must remain accurate, because there's much at stake. That's not just the valuable points, but it's also the confidence of our drivers in the way we operate as a team, and this is, if anything, more fundamental than the championship standings."

McLaren's Success

The incident drew focus from the British team winning the team title for the second year running.

It is McLaren's tenth team championship, moving them ahead of their rivals in the all-time list into second place behind record-holders Ferrari, who have claimed it on sixteen occasions since the championship's inception in 1958.

Their victory represents one of the quickest instances a squad has done this. It equals their rival's achievement in securing the title with multiple events remaining in last season, although that was a 22-race season compared with twenty-four this year.

McLaren's advantage has reduced as the season heads into its concluding phase. That is due in part to the nature of the latest tracks not favoring its capabilities, and partly because the team turned off the upgrade process some time ago, while their rivals still have updates coming to their vehicles.

This choice by McLaren was rooted in the reality that they were experiencing diminishing returns in improving this vehicle, typical when a design has such an edge at the start of a season, and that they wanted to make certain they were well prepared for the following season.

The British driver, however, is well aware of the scale of his squad's accomplishment, and the impressive transformation they have demonstrated under Stella and chief executive officer their leader from recent history, when they started the previous championship near the back of the field.

"Another title is a great thing," he said. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have surpassed every team in terms of development in a period when it is harder to achieve with more restrictions and less wind tunnel time.

"In an era when it should be more difficult than ever to dominate, that's exactly what the team has done and provided us, by a significant margin, the fastest vehicle on the grid.

"That's always a very nice thing to say. It always puts a smile on your expression. But we've also excelled as a squad in terms of drivers, between Piastri and me {pushing each other