Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri clash set for internal McLaren review

Andrea Stella has vowed McLaren’s review of the first-lap Singapore GP clash between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will concentrate on maintaining a ‘let them race’ mentality.

Piastri was aggrieved by a first-lap incident between himself and Norris, from which Norris emerged ahead, in which the two McLarens banged wheels while negotiating Turn 3 at Marina Bay.

Andrea Stella: Fair racing and sportsmanship are McLaren’s guiding principles

With the two McLarens making contact as a consequence of Norris moving to the inside of Piastri before a wayward moment saw him collide with the side of the Australian’s MCL39, Norris picked up some minor front wing damage.

Despite this, Norris showed strong pace to race to third place, applying plenty of pressure to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in the closing stages of the race.

Piastri was aggrieved by the move his teammate had made on him, labelling it “unfair” when he was told McLaren would not intervene on his behalf, after he had questioned whether it was “cool that Lando had barged past me”.

While Piastri’s radio frustrations did calm during the race, he appeared to disconnect the radio when being spoken to by team CEO Zak Brown while parking his car in parc fermé after finishing in fourth place.

Brown was in the midst of congratulating Piastri for his part in helping McLaren secure a second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, while Piastri’s points lead over Norris shrank marginally to 22 points as the British driver clinched third place.

Speaking after the chequered flag, team boss Andrea Stella explained the logic behind McLaren choosing not to intervene in the incident between its two drivers, in a season in which the Woking-based squad has done its utmost to ensure fairness and equality between its drivers.

The incident comes a few weeks after Piastri acquiesced position to Norris upon the team’s request following a pitstop error at Monza, which left Piastri ahead of Norris in the closing stages of the race.

With the Constructors’ Championship now in the bag, and Norris and Piastri still the favourites for the Drivers’ Championship despite Verstappen’s recent run of form, Stella confirmed that the team’s internal review of the first-lap clash in Singapore won’t change the approach to ensuring its drivers battle each other according to its principles.

“I can confirm that winning the Constructors’ and pursuing the Drivers’ Championship, they kind of travel along independent tracks, because the internal competition in terms of the Drivers’ Championship is regulated by principle,” he said.

“We talk about, for instance, team interest. But the team’s interest is also to make sure that we have fair racing between our two drivers, that they can pursue their aspirations, and that there is sportsmanship in the way we go racing.

“These are the guiding principles that remain even if we have achieved the Constructors’ Championship. In reality, we get more and more of fine-tuning by reviewing each event, from which, even when things look like they were going perfectly, you always have a little bit to learn and review. So this race offers a little bit to learn and review, and that’s what we will do.”

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With Piastri appearing quite aggrieved by Sunday’s events, despite his reluctance to criticise the team while speaking to TV crews afterward, Stella was asked whether he believes Norris deserves praise for having gone for a gap he’d identified, regardless of the potential consequences.

“Our review needs to be very detailed, very analytical. It needs to take into account the point of view of our two drivers,” he said.

“Then, we will form a common opinion, based on which we will see whether we can just confirm our initial interpretation, or there’s something else that we should conclude in terms of, like, the going for the gap, I think it’s just a bit too much of a coarse approach.

“Let me say we need to retain a higher degree of sophistication and detail, because there are so many elements that you need to take into account. We need to make sure that we don’t become too quick in drawing conclusions.

“We need to be accurate, because there’s a lot at stake, and the lot of stake is not only the championship points, but it’s also the trust of our drivers in the way we operate as a team.

“This is, if anything, even more foundational than the points themselves. So we will apply all the accuracy that is required in this case and all the conversations that are needed.”

It’s not the first time McLaren faces a potentially contentious debrief with its drivers, although tensions between Piastri and Norris have remained minimal due to the team’s efforts to control its two young guns.

“Every time we start our conversations with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise, this is hard,” Stella said.

“Because this is the only matter in which, when you race together as a team, actually you can’t have exactly the same interest for the two drivers because they want to pursue their aspiration.

“This is a foundational principle of the way we go racing at McLaren; we want to protect this ‘let them race’ concept.

“We know that as soon as you adopt this concept, you face difficulties, and we remind ourselves.

“But it’s within this awareness, self-consciousness, in a way, that then we develop our conversation. You need to have integrity in approaching that.

“I’m very proud of the way Lando and Oscar have been part of the process so far.

“Because if we have been able to navigate through these difficult parts of going racing, it’s because we have Lando and Oscar on board.

“They’ve been just great individuals, just great contributors, and that’s why it’s been successful so far, and definitely we work hard to make sure this is true for the remainder of the season and the years ahead in which we will keep going racing with Lando and Oscar.”

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