Piastri describes Norris move 'not fair' as George Russell claims victory
Tensions between title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri escalated significantly as their McLaren team secured 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 state it was "unjust" the team did not ask them to reverse positions.
On-track Incident Overshadows Team Celebration
The controversial moment that is likely to cause problems at McLaren occurred when Norris dived down the inside of Piastri after making a good start from P5 on the grid.
Norris was caught out by Verstappen slowing more than he expected in the apex of Turn Three.
Norris touched the Red Bull, damaging the McLaren's nose section, and that bounced him side-on into Piastri, whose momentum was disrupted, enabling Norris to move ahead into third place.
Team Radio Reveal Growing Tension
Piastri said over the radio: "That wasn't very team-like, but sure."
Shortly afterwards, he continued: "Is it acceptable that Lando just pushing 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 points advantage over Norris was reduced to 22 points with half a dozen events remaining
- Verstappen has also closed in and is 63 adrift of the championship lead
- McLaren secured their back-to-back constructors' title
Event Overview
George Russell dominated the race at the lead on his way to a dominant win, very much in the style of his triumph in Canada back in June.
Verstappen opted to start the race on softer compound rather than the medium compound on most other cars in the leading group, but the choice did not pay off and Russell comfortably maintained the lead at the beginning before stretching out a significant advantage.
"The track conditions were challenging, but it's racing. I put it on the inside, had a small correction but nothing more than that. It was good racing." - Lando Norris
Midfield Battle
Mercedes' newcomer Kimi Antonelli took P5, overtaking Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on lap 54 as the Ferrari lost performance, and then holding off Lewis Hamilton in the final stages.
Fernando Alonso delivered a strong performance to take eighth as the top performer outside the leading teams.
The Spanish driver and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar fought a brief battle in the first three laps, Alonso passing Hadjar into the first corner to take eighth, before the Frenchman got him back later in the lap, only for Alonso to retake the position on lap three.
