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Lando Norris asserts that "every competitor on the starting lineup" would have attempted the maneuver that caused renewed tension between himself and fellow driver the Australian during the recent race.

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

The collision could potentially disrupt the carefully maintained harmony that McLaren has managed to maintain between both competitors through strategic leadership.

Entering the event, Norris was behind Piastri by a significant margin in the points table, and narrowed that gap by only three points after finishing third behind winner George Russell and the Red Bull star, with Piastri close behind in fourth position.

Racing Opinions

Norris insisted he had done nothing wrong in overtaking Piastri.

"Every driver on the grid would have attempted what I did," he stated. "Should you fault me for taking a big opportunity, you don't belong in F1.

"My car was a bit too close to Verstappen, but that's competition. Nothing serious happened, I'm confident I would have finished in front of Piastri anyway because he had the less favorable part of the track on the outer line.

"Naturally I need to analyze it and the last thing I want is contact with my racing partner. I am the one who can't afford any incidents. I would put myself at risk just as much if similar things happened.

"I will examine it but the FIA clearly thought it was fine and the McLaren did, too."

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

McLaren's Response

Piastri expressed displeasure about the collision. He communicated over the in-car communication that the team's decision to do nothing about it was "not fair."

Post-event, he was more measured, stating he needed to review the incident before commenting further.

"The main concern is two cars making contact," he noted. "That's never what we desire, so I'll analyze it in greater detail."

The Australian has previously been the driver to lose out in no fewer than two controversial situations this year.

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

And in Italy, Piastri was ordered to let Norris back past for P2 after the Briton was delayed by a slow pit stop. Piastri expressed concern that he thought there had been an understanding that a delayed service was just part of racing that had to be tolerated, but acquiesced anyway.

Behind the scenes, he was not pleased about that situation, and he and the team conducted talks to resolve it.

But questioned after Sunday's race whether he had any concerns that his teammate might be getting favoritism, Piastri said: "None."

Did he believe the squad had been fair throughout the championship?

"In the end, yes," Piastri stated. "Might situations have been improved at specific moments? Certainly, but ultimately it's a learning process with the whole squad and I'm very happy that the intentions are positive, if that makes sense."

Team Leadership

McLaren boss the Italian said: "We will conduct thorough reviews, productive conversations and, like after Canada, we'll come back stronger and even more united."

The team principal stated that although the squad had reviewed the incident in its direct consequence, "this contact is, in reality, a consequence of different circumstances that occurred between Norris and Verstappen."

He continued: "Oscar made some comments while he was in the car 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.

"Our analysis needs to be extremely thorough, very analytical, it needs to take into account the perspective of our both competitors, and then we will form a common opinion based on which we will determine whether we can simply validate our first assessment or there's something else that we should conclude.

"Every time we start our conversations with the competitors, we always remind ourselves, as a premise: 'This is difficult'.

"Because this is the only matter in which, when you race together, in fact you can't have exactly the same interest for the two drivers, because they seek to achieve their personal goals. This is a core concept of the approach we take at the team.

"We must remain accurate, because there's much at stake. That's not just the championship points, but it's also the trust of our drivers in the way we operate as a team, and this is, perhaps, even more foundational than the points themselves."

Championship Achievement

The controversy deflected attention from McLaren securing the constructors' championship for the second consecutive year.

It is the team's tenth team championship, moving them ahead of their rivals in the historical rankings into runner-up position after 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 squad has done this. It equals Red Bull's feat in securing the title with multiple events remaining in last season, although that was a 22-race season compared with 24 this year.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the championship enters its concluding phase. That is due in part to the characteristics of the three most recent circuits not favoring its capabilities, and partly because McLaren turned off the upgrade process earlier, while their rivals still have updates arriving to their vehicles.

This choice by the team was based on the reality that they were seeing reduced benefits in developing this car, common when a concept has such an edge at the beginning of a season, and that they wanted to ensure they were well prepared for next year.

The British driver, however, is well aware of the scale of his squad's accomplishment, and the impressive transformation they have shown under Stella and CEO Zak Brown from recent history, when they began the 2023 season near the rear of the grid.

"Another title is a wonderful achievement," Norris said. "If you consider where we were previously, we have outperformed every team in terms of progress in a time when it is more challenging to achieve with more restrictions and reduced testing.

"In an era when it should be more difficult than ever to dominate, that's exactly what the squad has done and provided us, clearly, the fastest vehicle on the grid.

"That's always a pleasing aspect to say. It always puts a smile on your face. But we've additionally performed very well as a team in terms of drivers, between Piastri and myself {pushing each other