The Australian driver describes Norris move 'not fair' as George Russell wins the race
Friction between title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri escalated significantly as their racing outfit secured the team title at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Norris slid into Piastri while passing him at the first corner at the commencement of the race, leading the driver from Australia to claim it was "not fair" the team did not instruct them to reverse positions.
Race Drama Mars Team Celebration
The controversial moment 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 surprised by Verstappen decelerating more than he anticipated in the middle of Turn Three.
Norris made contact with the Red Bull, damaging the McLaren's nose section, and that caused him to deflect side-on into Piastri, whose pace was disrupted, enabling Norris to gain position into P3.
Driver Communications Show Growing Tension
Piastri said over the team communication: "That didn't feel like teamwork, but sure."
Shortly afterwards, he continued: "Is it acceptable that Lando just pushing me out of the way?"
His engineer replied that the team were "looking at it", before following up to tell Piastri that they would take "no immediate measures" in the race because "Lando had to avoid Verstappen" and that they would "review it afterwards".
Title Race Impact
- Piastri's championship lead over Norris was reduced to twenty-two points with half a dozen events remaining
- Verstappen has also closed in and is sixty-three points behind of the championship lead
- McLaren secured their back-to-back constructors' title
Race Summary
George Russell controlled 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 chose to start the race on softer compound rather than the mediums on most other cars in the top 10, but the choice did not prove successful and Russell comfortably maintained the lead at the beginning before stretching out a significant advantage.
"It was slippery, but that's motorsport. I took the inner line, had a small correction but nothing significant. It was hard but fair competition." - Lando Norris
Midfield Battle
Mercedes' newcomer Kimi Antonelli took fifth place, passing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the fifty-fourth lap as the Ferrari lost performance, and then defending against Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps.
Fernando Alonso delivered a strong performance to take eighth as the best midfield runner.
The Spaniard and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar fought a brief battle in the first three laps, Alonso passing Hadjar into the initial turn to take P8, before the driver from France regained the position later in the lap, only for Alonso to pass again on the third circuit.
