🔗 Share this article

The British driver claims that "every competitor on the starting lineup" would have made the maneuver that sparked fresh controversy between himself and fellow driver Oscar Piastri during the recent race.

The Briton collided with Piastri on the corner exit of turn three at Marina Bay after contact with Max Verstappen's Red Bull sent his car sideways.

This incident threatens to undermine the well-managed harmony that the British team has managed to maintain between both competitors through thoughtful management.

Entering the event, Norris was behind his teammate by a significant margin in the points table, and narrowed that deficit by only three points after taking the final podium spot behind winner George Russell and the Red Bull star, with Piastri following in P4.

Driver Perspectives

The Briton maintained he had acted appropriately in overtaking his teammate.

"Anyone on the starting lineup would have done what I did," he commented. "If you criticize me for going for a big opportunity, you shouldn't be in Formula 1.

"I was slightly too close to Max, but that's competition. Nothing serious happened, I'm certain I would have ended up ahead of Piastri regardless because he had the less favorable part of the track on the outer line.

"Of course I need to analyze it and the last thing I want is contact with my teammate. I am the one who must avoid any incidents. I would put myself at risk just as much if that occurred.

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

The driver rejected he had been too forceful with Piastri. "I made contact with Max," he said, "so I wasn't aggressive with my racing partner."

McLaren's Response

Piastri expressed unhappiness about the incident. He communicated over the team radio that the squad's choice to take no action about it was "not fair."

After the race, he was more measured, stating he needed to review the situation before making additional statements.

"The main concern is both vehicles coming together," he noted. "It's never what we desire, so I'll examine it in more depth."

Piastri has already been the driver to suffer in at least multiple debatable incidents this season.

In Hungary, he was the team's frontrunner initially but Norris was allowed to use a different strategy to beat his partner, a decision that rival teams have questioned.

During the Italian Grand Prix, the Australian was ordered to let Norris back past for P2 after the Briton was held up by a lengthy service. Piastri complained that he thought there had been an agreement that a delayed service was just normal competition that had to be tolerated, but acquiesced anyway.

Behind the scenes, he was not pleased about that circumstance, and he and the team held discussions to address the matter.

But when asked after Sunday's race whether he had any concerns that his teammate might be receiving preferential treatment, the Australian responded: "None."

Was he convinced the team had been fair throughout the championship?

"In the end, yes," Piastri said. "Could things have been better at specific moments? Certainly, but finally it's a developmental journey with the entire team and I'm very satisfied that the aims are positive, if that makes sense."

Team Leadership

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

The team principal explained that although the squad had reviewed the incident in its direct consequence, "this contact is, actually, a consequence of another racing situation that happened between Lando and Verstappen."

Stella added: "Oscar made some statements while he was in the cockpit but that's the type of character that we want from our competitors. They have to express their views, that's what we ask of them.

"The team's review needs to be extremely thorough, very analytical, it needs to take into account the perspective of our both competitors, and then we will form a common opinion based on which we will determine whether we can simply validate our initial interpretation or there's additional factors that we should conclude.

"Every time we start our conversations with the competitors, we always remind ourselves, as a premise: 'This is challenging'.

"Since this is the single area in which, when you compete as teammates, in fact you cannot maintain exactly the same interest for the two drivers, because they seek to achieve their personal goals. This is a foundational principle of the way we race at the team.

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

McLaren's Success

The incident deflected attention from McLaren winning the team title for the second year running.

It is McLaren's tenth team championship, moving them ahead of Williams in the all-time list into runner-up position behind leaders Ferrari, who have won it on sixteen occasions since the competition began in the late fifties.

Their victory represents one of the earliest times a team has done this. It equals their rival's achievement in securing the title with six races to go in last season, although that was a 22-race season compared with 24 this season.

The team's lead has reduced as the season enters its final stages. That is partly because to the nature of the three most recent circuits not suiting its strengths, and also because the team ceased the upgrade process some time ago, while Mercedes and Red Bull still have new parts arriving to their cars.

This choice by McLaren was based on the fact that they were experiencing reduced benefits in developing this car, typical when a concept has such an advantage at the beginning of a season, and that they wanted to ensure they were well prepared for the following season.

Norris, though, is fully conscious of the magnitude of his team's achievement, and the impressive transformation they have demonstrated under Stella and chief executive officer Zak Brown from recent history, when they began the previous championship close to the back of the grid.

"Another title is a wonderful achievement," Norris said. "If you consider where we were previously, we have surpassed every squad in terms of progress in a time when it is more challenging to achieve with increased limitations and less wind tunnel time.

"In an era when it should be more difficult than before to dominate, that's exactly what the squad has done and provided us, by a significant margin, the best car on the starting lineup.

"It's consistently a pleasing aspect to say. It always brings satisfaction on your expression. But we've also excelled as a squad in terms of drivers, between Piastri and me {pushing each other