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The British driver claims that "any driver on the grid" would have made the move that sparked fresh controversy between Norris and his McLaren teammate the Australian during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris made contact with Piastri on the exit of the third corner at the Singapore circuit after contact with Max Verstappen's Red Bull sent his car sideways.

This incident could potentially undermine the well-managed harmony that McLaren has successfully preserved between both competitors through strategic leadership.

Before the race, the British driver was behind his teammate by a significant margin in the championship standings, and narrowed that deficit by only a small amount after finishing third behind the Mercedes driver and the Red Bull star, with Piastri following in P4.

Driver Perspectives

Norris insisted he had acted appropriately in passing Piastri.

"Every driver on the grid would have attempted what I did," he commented. "If you criticize me for going for a racing gap, you don't belong in Formula 1.

"My car was slightly too close to Max, but that's racing. Nothing serious happened, I'm certain I would have finished in front of Piastri regardless because he had the less favorable part of the circuit on the outside.

"Of course I need to analyze it and the last thing I want is collision with my teammate. I am the one who can't afford any incidents. I would endanger my position just as much if that occurred.

"I will examine it but the governing body clearly thought it was acceptable and the team did, as well."

Norris denied he had been too forceful with his teammate. "I made contact with Max," he explained, "so I wasn't aggressive with my teammate."

McLaren's Response

The Australian showed unhappiness about the collision. He communicated over the team radio that the squad's choice to take no action about it was "not fair."

After the race, he was circumspect, saying he needed to watch the incident before making additional statements.

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

Piastri has already been the competitor to lose out in no fewer than multiple debatable incidents this year.

During the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was the leading McLaren driver initially but his teammate was allowed to use a different strategy to beat his teammate, a choice that rival teams have scrutinized.

During the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri was instructed to let Norris back past for second place after the British driver was held up by a slow pit stop. He complained that he believed there had been an agreement that a delayed service was just normal competition that had to be tolerated, but acquiesced anyway.

Internally, he was not pleased about that situation, and he and the squad held discussions to resolve it.

But when asked after Sunday's race whether he had worries that Norris might be receiving preferential treatment, the Australian said: "None."

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

"Ultimately, affirmative," he stated. "Could things 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 aims are very well meaning, if that makes sense."

Management Perspective

Team principal Andrea Stella commented: "We will conduct thorough reviews, productive conversations and, similar to post-Canada, we'll come back more resilient and more cohesive."

The team principal stated that although the squad had reviewed the incident in its immediate aftermath, "this contact is, in reality, a result of another racing situation that occurred between Lando and the Red Bull driver."

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

"The team's review needs to be very detailed, highly methodical, it needs to consider the viewpoint of our two drivers, and then we will develop a shared understanding based on which we will see whether we can simply validate our first assessment or there's additional factors that we should decide.

"Every time we begin our conversations with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a foundation: 'This is difficult'.

"Since this is the only matter in which, when you race together, actually you cannot maintain identical objectives for the both competitors, because they want to pursue their personal goals. This is a foundational principle of the approach we take at the team.

"We need to be precise, because there's a lot at stake. That's not only the championship points, but it's additionally the confidence of our drivers in the way we operate as a team, and this is, perhaps, even more foundational than the championship standings."

Championship Achievement

The controversy drew focus from McLaren securing the team title for the second consecutive year.

It is the team's tenth team championship, placing them ahead of Williams in the historical rankings into second place after record-holders the Italian team, who have claimed it 16 times since the championship's inception in the late fifties.

Their victory represents one of the earliest times a team has accomplished this. It equals Red Bull's feat in securing the title with multiple events remaining in 2023, although that was a 22-race season compared with 24 this year.

The team's lead has reduced as the season enters its concluding phase. That is partly because to the nature of the latest tracks not suiting its strengths, and partly because McLaren turned off the upgrade process earlier, while Mercedes and Red Bull still have new parts arriving to their vehicles.

This choice by McLaren was rooted in the fact that they were experiencing diminishing returns in developing this car, common when a design has such an advantage at the start of a championship, and that they wanted to make certain they were ready for next year.

The British driver, though, 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 recent history, when they started the 2023 season close to the rear of the grid.

"Another title is a wonderful achievement," Norris said. "Looking at where we were previously, we have outperformed every team in terms of development in a time when it is harder to achieve with increased limitations and less wind tunnel time.

"In an era when it should be harder than ever to excel, that's exactly what the squad has accomplished and given us, by a significant margin, the best car on the grid.

"That's always a pleasing aspect to mention. It always brings satisfaction on your face. But we've additionally excelled as a squad in terms of competitors, between Oscar and myself {pushing each other