Lando Norris declares ‘you’re silly’ to believe Oscar Piastri collision myth

McLaren retained their Constructors’ Championship crown at the Singapore Grand Prix, though that achievement was not realised without some Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fireworks.

The pair of McLaren Drivers’ title combatants banged wheels at the start, Norris giving Piastri a whack after clipping the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. In-race, Piastri was left far from impressed, though Norris says “you’re silly” if you think there was any intention at all behind the contact. It was a racing incident, and “clearly, the FIA think that as well.”

Lando Norris busts ‘silly’ Oscar Piastri crash myth

From fifth on the grid in Singapore, a strong launch from Norris had him challenging Verstappen and Piastri for second. Norris was forced to settle for third, after contact with both title rivals.

The Turn 3 whack from Norris had Piastri all hot and bothered over McLaren team radio.

“That’s not fair, I’m sorry, that’s not fair,” Piastri vented when informed that McLaren would not respond in-race to the incident. Piastri had made a thinly-veiled hint at a McLaren switcheroo being in order, due to the wheel-banging nature of Norris’ overtake, which he said came with a “pretty **** job at avoiding” contact.

Speaking on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, Norris admitted that he was not aware of how Piastri had reacted to their incident. He was therefore told that Piastri was not very happy in the immediate aftermath.

Norris responded: “Alright, well, I need to look at it. I’ve not seen it on TV yet, so I need to go and look at things.”

He went on to stress that there was nothing malicious about the incident, and that it would be “silly” to believe otherwise. The fact that the FIA stewards took no further action, Norris believes, speaks in his favour.

“Like, I don’t want to make contact with anyone, because there’s just as much chance I ruined my own race and put myself out,” Norris continued. “So yeah, you’re silly, if you think it’s an intentional thing, especially when it’s on my teammate. It’s the thing I want to avoid the most.

“But, and I try to, but when you’re debating whether even maybe you want to start on the intermediate [tyres], because there’s still a lot of wet patches… It’s racing, you know. I try and keep the car under control the best way possible.

“There was a big gap on the left, like, easily a car’s width, and I put myself there.

“So we’ll talk about it. There’s nothing else I think I should have done. Any driver on the grid would have done what I did. Of course, unfortunate, I don’t want those things to happen, but I think it was racing.

“And clearly, the FIA think that as well.”

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While in the heat of the moment, Piastri felt aggrieved, he stressed post-race that there is no sense of unfair treatment from McLaren.

It was back at Monza where Piastri was asked to yield for Norris – and obliged – albeit under very different circumstances. On that occasion, an unfavourably-timed and slow pit-stop for Norris saw him drop behind Piastri, with McLaren deeming a swap the fair thing to do.

“I thought in the moment, you know, obviously, it’s the first lap, tensions are high… We’re obviously encouraged to share our views on what happened, and I did that, and I’m sure we’ll discuss,” said Piastri.

He added: “There’s obviously been some difficult situations for the whole team.

“We’ve obviously spoken about a number of things. Could things have been better at certain points? Yes, but ultimately, it’s a learning process with the whole team.

“I’m very, very happy that the intentions are very well-meaning, if that makes sense. So I have absolutely no concerns about that.

“Just obviously, there’s been some tough situations this year, and this is another one.”

Piastri’s lead over Norris in the Drivers’ Championship reduced to 22 points after Singapore, with six rounds to go.

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