- Has accused teammate Lando Norris of unfair driving in chaotic opening lap
McLaren have been crowned F1 constructors’ champions at the Singapore Grand Prix on a day when team harmony flew out the window with a raging Oscar Piastri accusing Lando Norris of ‘unfair’ driving.
George Russell won from pole with Max Verstappen second, while Lando Norris finished third after colliding with championship leader Oscar Piastri on a chaotic opening lap.
Norris’s podium sealed McLaren’s back-to-back constructors’ titles, but Piastri, who started third, was left rattled after contact on turn three.
Feeling he should have been given the place back as he’d been squeezed toward the barriers, Piastri was overruled by McLaren, while the incident was merely noted by stewards.
Though seen by some as a fair racing incident, Piastri called Norris reckless after contact, saying over team radio: ‘That wasn’t very team-like.’
He then continued to complain: ‘So are we cool about Lando just barging me out of the way or… what’s the go there?’
Oscar Piastri was left fuming after McLaren teammate Lando Norris collided with him in Singapore
Piastri called for Norris to let him pass late in the race to make up for the incident but McLaren officials said no
When told the team would look at the clash after the race, Piastri moaned: ‘That’s not fair, that’s not fair…
‘If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, then that’s a pretty shit job of avoiding.’
Piastri later had further cause for dismay when a slow pit stop effectively ruined his chance to make a late charge for the podium.
The 5.2sec stop may have made all the difference as the Australian ended up just two seconds adrift of his teammate.
Piastri’s lead over Norris has now been reduced to 22 points with just six races remaining.
But how may the drama shape Piastri’s approach for the rest of the campaign, as he sounded much more disenchanted than when ordered by McLaren to hand back a place to Norris at Monza after the Briton suffered a poor pit stop.
After the race, Piastri regained his composure and backed the team. He said: ‘Not the race I was looking for, but it’s a proud moment to be part of years of hard work paying off.’
But he made it clear the issue was far from dead, explaining: ‘We’re obviously encouraged to share our views on what happened, and I did that, and I’m sure we’ll discuss it more.’
Norris has closed the gap on Norris with both McLaren drivers fighting it out for the F1 Championship
Asked if he agreed with team boss Zak Brown’s post-race assessment that he and Norris were racing hard but clean, he added: ‘Yes, I think we do. I don’t think there was any intention of contact — but there was. I need to look at the replay.’
Norris was wholly unapologetic, though. ‘Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as what I did,’ he said.
‘So I think if you fault me for just going up the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap then, yeah, I think you shouldn’t be in Formula 1.’
Russell took his ninth career win in dominant fashion by 5.43sec, while his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli was fifth.
Lewis Hamilton was closing on the Italian near the end when the brakes on the seven-time champion’s Ferrari failed, with teammate Charles Leclerc then passing him for sixth.
