Piastri labels Norris move 'unjust' as Russell takes the checkered flag
Tensions between championship competitors Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri reached a new high as their racing outfit clinched the team title at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Norris slid into Piastri while passing him at the initial turn at the commencement of the race, prompting the driver from Australia to state it was "not fair" the team did not instruct them to swap places.
On-track Incident Mars Constructors' Triumph
The incident that is bound to create problems at McLaren came as Norris moved aggressively the inner line of Piastri after getting away well from P5 on the grid.
Norris was caught out by Verstappen decelerating more than he expected in the apex of Turn Three.
Norris touched the Red Bull, compromising the McLaren's front wing endplate, and that caused him to deflect sideways into Piastri, whose pace was disrupted, allowing Norris to move ahead into P3.
Team Radio Reveal Increasing Friction
Piastri said over the radio: "That didn't feel like teamwork, but sure."
Shortly afterwards, he added: "Is it acceptable that Lando just barging me out of the way?"
His engineer responded that the team were "looking at it", before following up to tell Piastri that they would take "no immediate measures" in the race because "Norris needed to evade Verstappen" and that they would "review it afterwards".
Title Race Impact
- Piastri's championship lead over Norris was reduced to twenty-two points with six races remaining
- Verstappen has also gained ground and is sixty-three points behind of the championship lead
- McLaren won their second consecutive constructors' title
Event Overview
George Russell dominated the race at the front on his way to a dominant win, very much in the manner of his victory in Canada back in June.
Verstappen opted to start the race on softer compound rather than the mediums on most other cars in the top 10, but the choice did not pay off and Russell easily held the first position at the beginning before stretching out a comfortable lead.
"It was slippery, but it's racing. I put it on the inside, had a minor adjustment but nothing significant. It was good racing." - Lando Norris
Best of the Rest
Mercedes' rookie Kimi Antonelli took P5, passing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the fifty-fourth lap as the Ferrari faded, and then defending against Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps.
Fernando Alonso delivered a strong performance to take P8 as the top performer outside the leading teams.
The Spanish driver and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar engaged in close combat in the first three laps, Alonso passing Hadjar into the initial turn to take P8, before the driver from France got him back later in the lap, only for Alonso to retake the position on lap three.
