The growing tension in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship has been the main topic of conversation after the Singapore Grand Prix, overshadowing even George Russell’s surprising victory and McLaren’s defense of the constructors’ title.
The first-lap incident between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri was the subject of close scrutiny, with potential repercussions for the remaining six races of 2025.
According to FIA rules, the contact was a racing incident, common on the first lap. The stewards did not investigate, considering it without lasting damage or the need for further statements.
However, in McLaren’s internal battle, the incident was delicate. Team rules promise fair play in exchange for avoiding contact between drivers, but this incident adds to a growing list of controversies that McLaren carefully manages as the season comes to an end.
Norris, starting fifth, had a good start, overtaking Kimi Antonelli and closing in on his teammate Piastri in the first corner. Piastri gave space, but Norris closed towards turn 3 with Max Verstappen ahead.
With centimeters of separation, Norris grazed the rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull, causing a skid and a second collision with Piastri, who was trying to chart a course on the outside.
Norris suffered damage to the front wing, but the contact with Piastri secured him third place. From that moment on, Norris seemed faster, finishing on the podium ahead of his teammate, fourth.
“It wasn’t very team-oriented, but oh well”
Oscar Piastri
Piastri, through the team radio, expressed his frustration, followed by a tense exchange with his race engineer, Tom Stallard.
Lap 3: Piastri: “Are we okay with Lando moving me out of the way, or… what’s going on there?”
Lap 4: Stallard: “I need you to focus on what we can do here. Control the controllable, mate.” Stallard: “No further action from the stewards. As a team, we see that Lando had to avoid Verstappen, so we will not take any action during the race. We can review it later.”
Piastri: “That’s not fair. Sorry, that’s not fair.”
Stallard: “Oscar, opportunity to review together. Focus on this race, mate.”
Piastri: “Yeah, but if he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, it’s a pretty bad job of avoiding.”
Oscar Piastri, izquierda, y Lando Norris luchan por el tercer puesto en la primera vuelta del Gran Premio de Singapur del domingo.Piastri’s comments, although forceful, are understandable given his perspective. From the onboard camera of car 81, the contact with Verstappen was not visible, and it seemed that Norris lost the rear of his car and crashed into his teammate.
In a season where McLaren has reiterated the rule of avoiding collisions, Piastri perceived that Norris’s aggressive approach in the first corners led to contact between the teammates. Even knowing that Norris was trying to avoid the car in front, Piastri signaled on the radio that this should not involve a collision with him.
However, with replays and different camera angles, it is evident that Norris could not avoid contact with Piastri after hitting Verstappen.
“I need to watch the replays more to know exactly what happened. I think the main thing is that the two cars came together, which is never what we want. I will go and see it in more detail and then I will come to my conclusion.”
Oscar Piastri
For Norris, criticized for not being aggressive enough on the first lap, the space on the inside of Piastri invited the maneuver in turn 3.
“Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same as me. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what I did. Of course, I miscalculated how close I was to Max, but that’s racing. Nothing else happened, and I’m sure I would have finished ahead of Oscar anyway because I was on the inside and he would have had the dirty side of the track on the outside. So I need to review it, of course. I need to look at things and see if there’s anything I could have done better. The last thing I want is to make contact with my teammate, especially since all I get are questions from [the media].”
Lando Norris
Why didn’t McLaren intervene?
Regardless of the stance, there was contact between the drivers. McLaren has the directive to allow them to compete, but cleanly and without collisions.
After the Italian Grand Prix, where Piastri was ordered to give a position back to Norris, it became clear that McLaren intervenes if they consider a driver gains a position unfairly. If Norris had gained a position unfairly by colliding with Piastri, they might have asked them to swap positions.
The team principal, Andrea Stella, explained that the team considered the contact as a result of the initial collision with Verstappen, a racing incident.
“In terms of the contact between our two drivers, this contact is, in reality, a consequence of another racing situation that occurred between Lando and Verstappen. So definitely, because there was contact in itself, this will lead to a review and good conversations. But at the moment, we think this contact was more the result of another racing situation, let’s say.”
Andrea StellaStella understood Piastri’s frustration, but reiterated that McLaren asks its drivers to express their feelings openly on the radio.
“Obviously, Oscar made some statements while in the car. But that’s the kind of character we want to have from our drivers: they have to make their position very clear. That’s what we ask of them. At the same time, we have to put things in perspective: the perspective of a driver who is in a Formula 1 car with the intensity of it being the first lap. And the perspective that obviously Lando simply moved towards him, but we know that Lando, in reality, had contact with Verstappen and oversteered towards Oscar. So we will have good reviews, good conversations.”
Andrea Stella
What’s next for the title battle?
The conversations before the next race in Austin, Texas, are crucial. With six races remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, while Verstappen, second, has reduced the gap with Piastri to 63 points.McLaren se adjudicó el título de constructores el domingo por la noche, pero la tensión entre los protagonistas del campeonato de pilotos Lando Norris, a la izquierda, y Oscar Piastri solo está creciendo.If the differences continue to decrease, the internal pressure at McLaren will increase, which could affect the team’s race rules.
Stella is aware of the pressure and the importance of everyone agreeing on each race weekend.
“Every time we start our conversations with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise, this is difficult. Because this is the only matter in which, when you compete together as a team, you cannot have exactly the same interest for both drivers, because they want to pursue their aspiration, and this is a fundamental principle of how we race at McLaren. We want to protect this concept of ‘let them compete’. We know that as soon as you adopt this concept, you face difficulties, and we remind ourselves of this, but it is within this awareness, self-awareness, in a way, that we then develop our conversation. You need to be thorough, and you need to have integrity when approaching that, and I am very proud of the way Lando and Oscar have been part of the process so far, because if we have been able to navigate through these, let’s say, difficult factors, it is because we have Lando and Oscar involved. They have been great individuals, great collaborators, and that’s why it has been successful so far, and we will definitely work hard to make sure this is true for the rest of the season, and the years to come, in which we will continue to compete with Lando and Oscar.”
Andrea Stella
However, the rules of engagement between two pilots have limits. In doubtful situations, each one will interpret the rules according to their interests.
From here on, it will be more difficult for McLaren to judge the situation.
