Lando Norris defended his maneuver, which was highly commented on, over Oscar Piastri after the Australian driver accused him of doing a “bad” job in avoiding the collision on the first lap of the Singapore Grand Prix. While George Russell delivered an impeccable performance from pole position to secure his second victory of the year, the rivalry between Norris and his McLaren teammate, Piastri, finally erupted when they collided at the third corner. Norris, who started two places behind Piastri, was halfway behind his teammate at Turn 2 before launching his move at the next left-hand turn. Norris hit the rear of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and the contact sent him into Piastri and then ahead of his teammate. Piastri’s request to McLaren to have the positions restored was not heeded. Piastri crossed the line in fourth place with Norris, one place ahead in third, reducing the deficit in the championship from 25 to 22 points. Verstappen, runner-up of the day, is 63 points off the pace in the championship, with 174 points still to play for in the final six rounds.
“Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same as me, so if they blame me for going to the inside of a big gap, then they shouldn’t be in Formula 1,” Norris said of his move on the first lap. “There was nothing wrong with what I did.
Lando Norris
“I misjudged a little how close I was to Max, but that’s racing and I would have finished ahead of Oscar anyway. I was on the inside and the last thing I want to do is make contact with my teammate.
Lando Norris
With the position I’m in [in the championship] I can’t afford to do that compared to him. I put myself at risk if those kinds of things happen. The FIA thought it was okay and the team too.”
Lando Norris
Career engineer, Tom Stallard, informed Piastri that McLaren was investigating the sticking point before delivering the news that their driver didn’t want to hear.“That wasn’t very team-like, but of course,” Piastri protested over the radio. “So are we okay with Lando moving me out of the way?”
Oscar Piastri
“As a team, we can see that Lando has to avoid Verstappen, so we will not take any action during the race,” Stallard said. “We can review later.”
Tom Stallard
Piastri was not impressed, adding:
Stallard replied: “Oscar, we’ll have the chance to review together later. Focus on this race, mate. We can still get a good result here.” Piastri replied: “Yes, but if he [Norris] has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, then that’s a pretty bad job at avoiding [me].” Speaking after the hot and humid competition in the city-state, a more considerate Piastri said:“Mate, that’s not fair. I’m sorry, that’s not fair.”
Oscar Piastri
“I need to watch the replays more and in more detail and then come to my conclusion”.
Oscar Piastri
