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McLaren may have clinched the Constructors’ Championship at the Singapore Grand Prix, but tensions within the team have never been higher.
Oscar Piastri put pressure on the team to do something after his teammate, Lando Norris, made contact with him through Turn 3 on the opening lap of the race. Piastri, who is the current leader of the Drivers Championship, came on the radio immediately after the incident to say, “Yeah I mean that wasn’t very team-like, but sure.”
Norris appeared alongside Piastri through Turn 1 after an excellent launch to get past Kimi Antonelli on lights out. With the front-runners packed in tight going into Turn 3, Norris brushed into the back of Max Verstappen, and made contact with the side of Piastri, sending him off-line and into fourth place.
Piastri was clearly displeased with the move, and looked to his team to do something with the radio message: “So are we cool with Lando just barging me out of the way or…? What’s the go there?”
When his race engineer, Tom Stallard, told him that no action would be taken and the team would discuss the incident together afterwards, Piastri made his frustrations clear.
“I am sorry. That’s not fair,” he said. “If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate than that is a pretty s*** job of avoiding it.”
This comes on the back of a precedent McLaren set in Monza by asking Piastri to give up a position to Norris after the latter had a poor pit stop.
Of note, Monza marked the first of three races in a row now that Norris has finished ahead of Piastri, slowly chipping away at the lead the Australian driver currently holds in the Drivers’ Championship.
After the race, Piastri seemed more measured about the situation. Speaking with F1 TV media, he said, “I need to go and take a look at it. You know, obviously there was contact, which is never ideal, but I’ll go and have a look at the replays.”
Piastri finished fourth at the Singapore Grand Prix, and currently sits 22 points ahead of Norris in the Drivers’ standings.
Joining Norris on the podium at the Marina Bay Street Circuit was Verstappen, who has yet again outscored both McLarens and has become somewhat of an underdog in the Drivers Title fight, and George Russell, who has been absolutely dominant all weekend long and claimed his second victory of the year.
Singapore Grand Prix Results
Cover photo via Red Bull Content Pool.
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