Oscar Piastri v Lando Norris clash: Why McLaren refused to intervene

Andrea Stella has explained why McLaren didn’t see fit to intervene on swapping Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri back after their first-lap banging of wheels at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris got ahead of Piastri on the opening lap in a move the Australian felt had been a “barge” as the pair banged wheels at Turn 3.

Andrea Stella: Why McLaren didn’t seek to redress Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri clash

Norris’ contact with Piastri was clearly inadvertent, caused by the British driver taking avoiding action after making contact with the rear of Max Verstappen’s car, but the solid clash of wheels did result in some minor damage to Norris’ front wing.

With Norris continuing in front of Piastri, a fuming Australian radioed in to his race engineer to question the move, asking whether his team was “cool with Lando barging past me”, as he said it “wasn’t very team-like.”

The move comes just a few weeks after Piastri moved over to allow Norris through to take second place in Italy, following a team request to swap positions following a slow pit-stop for Norris.

Upon being told that McLaren would not take any action and would allow Norris to continue in front, Piastri complained that it was “not fair”, while his challenge in the race was later compromised by a slow pit-stop that cost him several seconds. He finished the race in fourth, two seconds behind Norris.

With McLaren finishing third and fourth, the Woking-based squad secured a second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, while Piastri’s points lead in the Drivers’ Championship has been reduced to 22 points with six race weekends to go.

Speaking to the media after the chequered flag, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella promised a review of the situation would be carried out, pointing to how opportunities to learn and grow can be taken from moments of adversity.

“I think the first-lap situation is one of those that can happen. It is close racing. We will review the situation together with our drivers,” he said.

“We will have the good conversations like we had, for instance, after Canada, and this review gave us the opportunity to come back, we said at the time, even more united and stronger as a team.

“We will see if there’s any learning and anything that we need to fine-tune in terms of our approach. But yeah, I think this would just lead to some good conversations.

“Obviously, Oscar made some statements while he was in the car, but that’s the kind of character that we want to have from our drivers. They have to make their position very clear. That’s what we ask them.

“At the same time, we have to put things in perspective, the perspective of a driver that is in Formula 1 car, with the intensity of it being the first lap, and he expected that, obviously, he just saw Lando moving on to him, but we know that Lando, in reality, had a contact with Verstappen and oversteered onto Oscar. So we will have good reviews, good conversations, and like after Canada, will come back stronger and even more united.”

More key Singapore GP talking points from PlanetF1.com

👉 FIA confirms Lewis Hamilton penalty after Singapore GP breach

👉 Piastri fumes at Norris’ ‘pretty **** job’ but Brundle defends actions

With McLaren having intervened in the interests of fairness following its slow pitstop for Norris at Monza, why was an incident that resulted in the overtaking car, Norris, making contact with Piastri not deemed sufficient for team intervention on this occasion?

“Well, obviously, it’s within the power and the rights of the team to act, should there be a case,” Stella said.

“So there’s been an assessment at the pit wall. We thought that there was no need to do so.

“But, like I said before, we do want and we do ask our driver to make their position very clear, and that’s what Oscar did.

“Then we made our assessment, and we thought that the right course of action was the one that we took, but part of the process is the review that will happen in the coming days.”

In Stella’s eyes, Norris’s making contact with Piastri wasn’t something that occurred in isolation, changing the complexion of the incident.

“In terms of having a contact between our two drivers, this contact is, in reality, a consequence of another racing situation that happened between Lando and Verstappen,” he said.

“So definitely, because there was contact itself, this will lead to review and some good conversations. But, in the moment, we thought that this contact was more a result of another racing situation, let’s say.”

Piastri opted against showing the same frustrations after he climbed from his car, having lost a few points to Norris in the title fight, despite having seemed to disconnect his radio while CEO Zak Brown was congratulating him while parking up his car.

“Obviously, it was a difficult race, a difficult first lap,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“I’ve not seen the replay, obviously, I just know from in-car, so I’ll go and have a look.

Opining that he doubted there was any intentional contact, Piastri was asked whether he believes the clash may result in a new precedent between he and Norris for the rest of the year.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“I’ve not seen the incident from the TV camera, so I need to look at that first before I make any comments.”

Read Next: Fernando Alonso unleashes on Lewis Hamilton in fiery Singapore GP radio rant