🔗 Share this article

The British driver states that "any driver on the starting lineup" would have attempted the move that sparked fresh controversy between Norris and fellow driver Oscar Piastri during the Singapore Grand Prix.

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

This incident could potentially undermine the well-managed team unity that McLaren has successfully preserved between their two drivers through strategic leadership.

Entering the event, the British driver trailed his teammate by a significant margin in the championship standings, and reduced that gap by only a small amount after finishing third behind the Mercedes driver and Verstappen, with his teammate following in P4.

Driver Perspectives

The Briton maintained he had acted appropriately in overtaking Piastri.

"Every driver on the starting lineup would have attempted what I did," he commented. "If you criticize me for taking a racing gap, you don't belong in Formula 1.

"My car was slightly too close to Verstappen, but that's competition. No major incident occurred, I'm confident I would have ended up ahead of Oscar regardless because he had the dirty part of the circuit on the outer line.

"Of course I need to analyze it and the last thing I want is collision with my teammate. I am the one who must avoid such situations. I would endanger my position just as much if similar things happened.

"I will examine it but the governing body obviously thought it was fine and the McLaren did, too."

The driver rejected he had been too forceful with his teammate. "I touched Max," he explained, "so I wasn't aggressive with my racing partner."

Team Dynamics

The Australian showed unhappiness about the collision. He said over the in-car communication that the team's decision to do nothing about it was "unjust."

After the race, he was circumspect, stating he needed to watch the incident before commenting further.

"The main concern is two cars making contact," he noted. "It's never what we desire, so I'll examine it in more depth."

The Australian has previously been the competitor to lose out in no fewer than two controversial situations this season.

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

During the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was ordered to allow his teammate through for second place after the British driver was held up by a lengthy service. Piastri complained that he believed there had been an agreement that a delayed service was just normal competition that had to be accepted, but acquiesced anyway.

Behind the scenes, he was unhappy about that situation, and he and the squad conducted talks to resolve it.

But when asked after the Singapore Grand Prix whether he had any concerns that his teammate might be getting favoritism, the Australian responded: "No."

Was he convinced the squad had been fair all season?

"Ultimately, affirmative," he stated. "Could things have been improved at specific moments? Certainly, but finally it's a learning process with the entire team and I'm very happy that the intentions are positive, if that is understandable."

Team Leadership

McLaren boss Andrea Stella commented: "We'll have detailed analyses, productive conversations and, like after Canada, we'll return more resilient and more cohesive."

Stella stated that although the squad had analyzed the incident in its direct consequence, "the collision is, in reality, a consequence of different circumstances that occurred between Norris 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 drivers. They have to express their views, that's what we require of them.

"Our analysis needs to be very detailed, highly methodical, it needs to consider the viewpoint of our two drivers, and then we will form a shared understanding based on which we will determine whether we can simply validate our first assessment or there's additional factors that we should decide.

"Every time we start our discussions with the competitors, we always recall, as a foundation: 'This is difficult'.

"Because this is the single area in which, when you compete as teammates, in fact you can't have identical objectives for the both competitors, because they want to pursue their individual aspirations. This is a core concept of the way we race at the team.

"We need to be accurate, because there's much at risk. That's not just the valuable points, but it's additionally the trust of our drivers in the manner we function as a team, and this is, if anything, even more foundational than the championship standings."

McLaren's Success

The controversy deflected attention from the British team securing the constructors' championship for the second year running.

It is the team's tenth team championship, moving them above Williams in the historical rankings into second place behind record-holders the Italian team, who have claimed it 16 times since the championship's inception in the late fifties.

Their victory represents one of the earliest times a team has accomplished this. It matches Red Bull's feat in winning with multiple events remaining in last season, although that was a shorter championship compared with twenty-four this season.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the season enters its final stages. That is partly because to the nature of the latest tracks not suiting its capabilities, and partly because McLaren ceased the development program some time ago, while Mercedes and Red Bull still have new parts arriving to their vehicles.

That decision by the team was based on the reality that they were experiencing reduced benefits in developing this car, common when a concept has such an edge at the start of a championship, and that they wanted to ensure they were well prepared for the following season.

Norris, however, is well aware of the scale of his squad's accomplishment, and the remarkable turnaround they have shown under their team principal and chief executive officer Zak Brown from just over two years ago, when they started the 2023 season near the rear of the field.

"A second championship is a great thing," he said. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have outperformed every squad in terms of development in a time when it is more challenging to do so with more restrictions and less wind tunnel time.

"At a time when it should be more difficult than before to dominate, that's precisely what the squad has accomplished and provided us, clearly, the fastest vehicle on the grid.

"It's consistently a pleasing aspect to mention. It always brings satisfaction on your face. But we've also excelled as a team in terms of competitors, between Oscar and me {pushing each other