The Australian driver labels Norris move 'unjust' as George Russell wins the race
Friction between championship competitors Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri escalated significantly as their McLaren team clinched the team title at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Norris slid into Piastri while passing him at the initial turn at the start of the race, leading the Australian to claim it was "not fair" the team did not ask them to swap places.
On-track Incident Mars Team Celebration
The incident that is likely to cause issues at McLaren came as Norris moved aggressively the inside of Piastri after getting away well from P5 on the grid.
Norris was caught out by Verstappen slowing more than he expected in the middle of Turn Three.
Norris touched the Red Bull, damaging the McLaren's front wing endplate, and that caused him to deflect sideways into Piastri, whose momentum was disrupted, enabling Norris to gain position into third place.
Driver Communications Reveal Growing Tension
Piastri said over the team communication: "That didn't feel like teamwork, but sure."
Shortly afterwards, he continued: "Is it acceptable that Lando just barging me out of the way?"
His engineer replied that the team were "looking at it", before coming back to tell Piastri that they would take "no action" in the race because "Norris needed to evade Verstappen" and that they would "analyze it afterwards".
Championship Implications
- Piastri's points advantage over Norris was cut to twenty-two points with six races remaining
- Verstappen has also gained ground and is 63 adrift of the lead
- McLaren won their back-to-back team championship
Event Overview
George Russell dominated the race at the front on his way to a commanding victory, very much in the manner of his victory in Canada back in June.
Verstappen chose to start the race on softer compound rather than the medium compound on most other cars in the leading group, but the strategy did not pay off and Russell easily held the first position at the start before building a significant advantage.
"It was slippery, but it's racing. I took the inner line, had a minor adjustment but nothing more than that. It was good racing." - Lando Norris
Midfield Battle
Mercedes' rookie Kimi Antonelli took P5, overtaking Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on lap 54 as the Ferrari lost performance, and then defending against Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps.
Fernando Alonso drove an excellent race to take P8 as the top performer outside the leading teams.
The Spaniard and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar engaged in close combat in the opening stages, Alonso passing Hadjar into the first corner to take P8, before the Frenchman got him back later in the lap, only for Alonso to retake the position on lap three.
