Oscar Piastri addresses McLaren handling of Norris Singapore clash

Oscar Piastri expressed satisfaction over how McLaren handled a clash between himself and teammate Lando Norris in the Singapore GP Sprint.

The McLaren drivers collided during the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint, much to the frustration of CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella, who suggested that further talks would be held to create a clear, united plan for the future.

Oscar Piastri backs McLaren handling of Singapore incident

Both drivers went spinning late in the Singapore Sprint when Norris attempted a move on the sister McLaren at Turn 5. Piastri was out, Norris finished P8.

Brown subsequently said both have been told there would be no repeats, that an “order” with no “please” involved.

Stella called it “unacceptable” and said talks were “not finished” with an eye on how the team moved forward.

Ahead of the next triple-header commencing with the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas, Piastri was asked for his verdict on McLaren’s response to the situation, and whether the coming together was symptomatic of the frustrating position the team currently finds itself.

“I’ve been happy with how things have been dealt with,” he confirmed. “I think the team and Zak and Andrea have handled things the way they should have been. So that’s been fine.

“It’s been a challenging year for us, definitely. I think in the middle of the season, we felt like we’d gained some momentum, and potentially we were back to being able to fight for wins and regular podiums.

“But, that’s often the way in Formula 1. You think you’re there again, and you’ve got a few teams around you to pull you down a few pegs.

“Hopefully, we can find a bit more performance in the rest of the season.

“But I think in terms of going back to Singapore, I think it was dealt with appropriately, and we’re ready to go racing again.”

F1 2026 has been challenging on a personal level for Piastri, though he feels things have started to “click” a little more in recent rounds, even if he is not satisfied yet.

“Certainly was hard to find for a while, but I feel like the last triple-header was definitely more back to where I wanted to be,” he said.

“Definitely not still at the level I want or aspired to be at. But, back in the ballpark that I should be in.

“It’s been no secret this year has been challenging in terms of getting a grip on this year’s car, but I feel like over the last few weeks it’s started to click a little bit more. It’s still very challenging, but we’re finding a way.

“I feel like I’m slowly getting there, both improving this year and also identifying what I need more of or less of to go quicker from the car. So yeah, we’re getting there, but this is not the level I want to be trying to get to.

“I want to be getting to a much higher level than where I’m at. But, it’s a clear sign of progress, which is what I’m after.”

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Asked what he has changed with his MCL40 to make progress, the Melbourne native clarified: “Not a lot.

“We’ve tried various things.

“I think what we’re dealing with, what’s been challenging this year, you can’t quickly fix. I think even trying to fix it overall is not an easy thing at all. But we’ve been trying some things.

“Been a lot of hard work in terms of how I adapt myself to the car because the things that were working so well for me at points last year are kind of the things that are my downfall in a lot of weekends this year.

“So when you can’t rely on the things that you normally want to rely on, it is always challenging, both in terms of actually adapting, but also when you’ve been used to something working for you for a long time, trying to go away from that, almost there’s a mental challenge to that as well.

“So yeah, I feel like we’re making progress and things are starting to feel a little bit more comfortable, but there’s still room to go.”

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