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Lando Norris asserts that "any driver on the starting lineup" would have made the move that caused fresh controversy between himself and fellow driver Oscar Piastri during the recent race.

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

The collision could potentially undermine the well-managed team unity that the British team has managed to maintain between both competitors through strategic leadership.

Before the race, Norris was behind his teammate by a significant margin in the championship standings, and reduced that gap by only three points after taking the final podium spot behind the Mercedes driver and Verstappen, with Piastri following in P4.

Racing Opinions

Norris insisted he had done nothing wrong in overtaking Piastri.

"Anyone on the grid would have done what I did," he stated. "Should you fault me for taking a big opportunity, you shouldn't be in F1.

"I was a bit too close to Verstappen, but that's racing. Nothing serious happened, I'm certain I would have ended up ahead of Piastri regardless because he had the dirty part of the track on the outside.

"Of course I need to analyze it and the worst scenario I want is contact with my racing partner. I am the one who can't afford any incidents. I would put myself at risk just as much if similar things happened.

"I'll review it but the FIA clearly thought it was acceptable and the McLaren did, as well."

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

Team Dynamics

The Australian showed unhappiness about the incident. He said over the in-car communication that the team's decision to take no action about it was "not fair."

Post-event, he was more measured, saying he needed to review the incident before commenting further.

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

Piastri has already been the competitor to suffer in no fewer than two controversial situations this season.

During the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was the team's frontrunner early in the race but Norris was allowed to use a different strategy to overtake his partner, a decision that rival teams have scrutinized.

And in Italy, the Australian was ordered to allow his teammate through for second place after the British driver was delayed by a lengthy service. Piastri expressed concern that he thought there had been an agreement that a slow pit stop was just normal competition that had to be tolerated, but acquiesced regardless.

Internally, he was not pleased about that circumstance, and he and the squad held discussions to address the matter.

But when asked after the Singapore Grand Prix whether he had worries that Norris might be getting favoritism, Piastri said: "None."

Did he believe the squad had been equitable all season?

"Ultimately, yes," he stated. "Might situations have been improved at specific moments? Certainly, but finally it's a learning process with the whole squad and I'm very satisfied that the aims are positive, if that is understandable."

Team Leadership

McLaren boss Andrea Stella commented: "We will conduct thorough reviews, productive conversations and, similar to post-Canada, we'll come back more resilient and even more united."

Stella explained that although the squad had reviewed the incident in its immediate aftermath, "this contact is, in reality, a consequence of another racing situation that happened between Norris and the Red Bull driver."

Stella added: "Piastri made some comments while he was in the cockpit but that's the type of character 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 extremely thorough, highly methodical, it needs to take into account the viewpoint of our two drivers, and then we will develop a common opinion upon which we will determine whether we can just confirm our first assessment or there's additional factors that we should decide.

"Every time we begin our discussions with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise: 'This is challenging'.

"Since this is the single area in which, when you race together, actually you cannot maintain exactly the same interest for the both competitors, because they want to pursue their personal goals. This is a core concept of the approach we take at the team.

"We need to be precise, because there's much at risk. That's not just the valuable 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 points themselves."

McLaren's Success

The incident deflected attention from McLaren winning the constructors' championship for the second year running.

It is the team's tenth team championship, placing them ahead of their rivals in the all-time list into second place after leaders the Italian team, who have claimed it on sixteen occasions since the competition began in 1958.

Their victory represents one of the quickest instances a team has accomplished this. It equals Red Bull's feat in winning with multiple events remaining in 2023, although that was a shorter championship compared with twenty-four this season.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the season heads into its final stages. That is partly because to the characteristics of the three most recent circuits not suiting its capabilities, and also because McLaren turned off the development program earlier, while their rivals still have new parts arriving to their vehicles.

This choice by the team was based on the fact that they were experiencing diminishing returns in improving this vehicle, typical when a concept has such an advantage at the start of a championship, and that they wanted to ensure they were ready for the following season.

Norris, however, is fully conscious of the scale of his team's achievement, and the remarkable turnaround they have demonstrated under Stella and chief executive officer Zak Brown from just over two years ago, when they started the 2023 season near the back of the grid.

"A second championship is a great thing," Norris commented. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have surpassed every team in terms of progress in a time when it is harder to achieve with increased limitations and less wind tunnel time.

"In an era when it should be more difficult than before to dominate, that's precisely what the squad has done and provided us, by a significant margin, the best car on the starting lineup.

"That's always a pleasing aspect to say. It always puts a smile on your expression. But we've also excelled as a team in terms of competitors, between Piastri and myself {pushing each other