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Lando Norris asserts that "every competitor on the starting lineup" would have attempted the move that caused renewed tension between himself and his McLaren teammate the Australian during the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Briton collided with Piastri on the exit of the third corner at Marina Bay after a bump with the leading car caused him to slide.

This incident could potentially undermine the carefully maintained harmony that the British team has successfully preserved between their two drivers through thoughtful management.

Entering the event, Norris was behind his teammate by 25 points in the points table, and reduced that gap by only three points after taking the final podium spot behind the Mercedes driver and Verstappen, with Piastri following in fourth position.

Driver Perspectives

The Briton maintained he had done nothing wrong in overtaking Piastri.

"Every driver on the grid would have attempted what I did," he commented. "If you criticize me for taking a big opportunity, you shouldn't be in Formula 1.

"My car was a bit too close to Max, but that's competition. Nothing serious happened, I'm confident I would have ended up ahead of Oscar anyway because he had the dirty part of the circuit on the outside.

"Of course I need to review it and the last thing I want is collision with my racing partner. I am the one who can't afford such situations. I would endanger my position just as much if similar things happened.

"I'll review it but the governing body obviously thought it was acceptable and the McLaren did, as well."

The driver rejected he had been overly aggressive with his teammate. "I touched Max," he explained, "so I wasn't aggressive with my racing partner."

McLaren's Response

Piastri expressed displeasure about the collision. He said over the in-car communication that the team's decision to do nothing about it was "unjust."

After the race, he was circumspect, saying he needed to review the situation before making additional statements.

"The primary issue is both vehicles making contact," he commented. "It's never what we want, so I'll examine it in more depth."

The Australian has previously been the competitor to suffer in no fewer than two controversial situations this season.

In Hungary, he was the team's frontrunner initially but his teammate was permitted to use a different strategy to overtake his teammate, a decision that competitors have questioned.

During the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was instructed to let Norris back past for second place after the Briton was held up by a lengthy service. He complained that he believed there had been an agreement that a delayed service was just part of racing that had to be accepted, but complied regardless.

Behind the scenes, he was unhappy about that circumstance, and he and the squad conducted talks to address the matter.

But questioned after the Singapore Grand Prix whether he had any concerns that his teammate might be getting favoritism, Piastri responded: "None."

Was he convinced the squad had been equitable throughout the championship?

"Ultimately, affirmative," he stated. "Might situations have been better at certain points? Certainly, but ultimately it's a developmental journey with the whole squad and I'm very satisfied that the intentions are positive, if that is understandable."

Team Leadership

Team principal the Italian said: "We will conduct thorough reviews, constructive discussions and, similar to post-Canada, we'll return stronger and even more united."

The team principal stated that although the team had analyzed the incident in its direct consequence, "the collision is, in reality, a result of different circumstances that happened between Norris and the Red Bull driver."

Stella added: "Piastri made some statements while he was in the cockpit but that's the kind of attitude that we expect from our competitors. They have to make their position clear, that's what we require of them.

"The team's review needs to be extremely thorough, highly methodical, it needs to take into account the viewpoint of our two drivers, and then we will develop a common opinion based on which we will determine whether we can just confirm our initial interpretation or there's additional factors that we should conclude.

"Every time we begin our discussions with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise: 'This is challenging'.

"Because this is the only matter in which, when you compete as teammates, in fact you cannot maintain exactly the same interest for the both competitors, because they seek to achieve their individual aspirations. This is a foundational principle of the approach we take at the team.

"We must remain precise, because there's a lot at risk. That's not just the championship points, but it's additionally the trust of our competitors in the manner we function as a squad, and this is, if anything, even more foundational than the championship standings."

McLaren's Success

The incident deflected attention from McLaren winning the constructors' championship for the second year running.

It is McLaren's 10th constructors' title, moving them above Williams in the historical rankings into runner-up position behind record-holders the Italian team, who have claimed it 16 times since the competition began in the late fifties.

This achievement represents one of the quickest instances a team has done this. It matches Red Bull's feat in securing the title with multiple events remaining in 2023, although that was a 22-race season compared with twenty-four this year.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the season heads into its concluding phase. That is partly because to the nature of the latest tracks not favoring its strengths, and partly because the team turned off the upgrade process some time ago, while their rivals still have new parts coming to their cars.

This choice by McLaren was based on the reality that they were seeing diminishing returns in improving this vehicle, typical when a concept has such an edge at the start of a championship, and that they wanted to make certain they were well prepared for next year.

The British driver, however, is fully conscious of the scale of his squad's accomplishment, and the impressive transformation they have demonstrated under Stella and CEO their leader from just over two years ago, when they began the previous championship near the back of the field.

"Another title is a great thing," he commented. "If you consider where we were three years ago, we have outperformed every squad in terms of progress in a period when it is harder to do so with increased limitations and reduced testing.

"In an era when it should be harder than ever to dominate, that's precisely what the squad has done and provided us, by a significant margin, the fastest vehicle on the grid.

"It's consistently a very nice thing to mention. It always puts a smile on your expression. But we've additionally performed very well as a squad in terms of competitors, between Piastri and myself {pushing each other