Oscar Piastri reacts calmly to his teammate Lando Norris’s start at the Singapore Grand Prix – but internally, things could still come to a head
Oscar Piastri seems calm. Too calm. Shortly after the Singapore Grand Prix, the Australian sits down with the media, talks about the start, and chooses his words carefully. Anyone who only sees him there would hardly guess what he said on the radio shortly after the start: “That wasn’t fair. If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, that’s a pretty shitty way to avoid it.”
Piastri was upset. In the second corner, he was side by side with Lando Norris when the Brit pulled in on the inside and skidded slightly. In doing so, he hit his teammate’s McLaren on the side. The situation was reminiscent of the internal team crash between the two Racing Points, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez, in 2018, only this time there was no accident with the wall. However, championship leader Piastri lost his position. “Two team cars should never touch,” he said after the race. “I need to watch the replays to know exactly what happened. But obviously, that’s not what you want. I’ll take a look at it and then decide what I think.”
“Tensions were high” – radio rage and self-control
During the race, Piastri sounded upset, but after the race he was his usual calm self: “At that moment, it was the first lap and tensions were high,” he explains. “We are encouraged to speak up when something happens. That’s what I did. And now we’ll take a calm look at it.“
When asked whether he thought the team should have swapped positions, Piastri remained diplomatic: ”I don’t think it needs a big discussion. We’ll talk about it, of course. But I need to see the whole picture first.”
Nevertheless, his words reveal that the incident has left its mark. After Monza, he had already spoken openly about the issue of fairness when he had to let Lando Norris pass after his slow pit stop. Now he says: “Of course, some things could have gone better this year. But I have no doubts about the team’s intentions. They are honest. We are all learning.”
And has his relationship with Norris changed after this incident? “No,” says the Australian succinctly. And is Norris favored by the team? “No.”
Norris stays cool: “That’s racing”
While Piastri weighs his words, Lando Norris seems completely relaxed after the race: ” It was slippery, still wet in many places. But that’s racing,“ he says. ”I went in on the inside, made a small correction to the steering wheel, that’s all. I would have liked more overtaking opportunities, but I gave it my all. I’m satisfied.“
Sky expert Jenson Button jumps to Norris’ defense: ”That wasn’t an unfair attack. He just had a slip – very little grip. No driver would intentionally hit his teammate.“ Button sums it up: ”If I were Oscar, I would think, ‘Damn, my teammate was just a tad better today.’ That’s all.“
Team boss Zak Brown also later takes a diplomatic stance: ”Our drivers drive hard but fair. That’s how it should be.” But internally, the issue is unlikely to be settled yet. Piastri’s statement, “That wasn’t very team-like,” is likely to remain a topic of discussion in Woking. With the Singapore race, Lando Norris was able to reduce his World Championship deficit to teammate Piastri to 22 points.