McLaren let Norris–Piastri rub lie as title pressure finally bites in Singapore
McLaren had a simple choice in Singapore: step in after their cars clashed at Turn 3, or let two title-contending drivers sort it out on track. Andrea Stella kept his hands in his pockets. The team didn’t order a switch, didn’t call it back, didn’t even pretend to deliberate. And that silence spoke volumes about where this championship fight is heading.
It all flared from a textbook Marina Bay launch. Oscar Piastri had banked a neat P3 on Saturday, Lando Norris lined up two spots behind, and both fired off the line hard enough to trouble Max Verstappen into Turn 1. By Turn 3 they were running three-wide into real estate that simply doesn’t exist. Norris kept his foot in, Piastri pinched across to cover, and the papaya cars traded paint. Norris came out ahead. Piastri didn’t.
What stung wasn’t just the contact; it was the response. Over the radio, a usually ice-cool Piastri let frustration seep through, effectively asking if this was how McLaren wanted to play it after he’d been shunted aside. He pushed for an intervention. It didn’t come. “Not fair,” he argued on-air, pointing out that if avoiding one rival meant clattering your teammate, that wasn’t exactly textbook racecraft.
That’s the first real crack we’ve seen in Piastri’s poker face this season. The Australian’s had a bruising stretch — that messy Baku weekend didn’t help — but he’s generally been unflappable, even as the margins have tightened at the front. Singapore was different. This was raw, immediate, and aimed at the only guy in the same garage.
Inevitably, the punditry pounced. Ralf Schumacher, who spent much of last year questioning whether Norris had the steel to close races and close titles, has pivoted. On Sky Deutschland’s coverage he reckoned this was the first sign Piastri is feeling the squeeze, describing him as “thinner-skinned” on the airwaves. The read on the clash itself? Unintentional from Norris, aggressive but within bounds — the kind of Lap 1 contact that can just as easily end in tears.
It’s quite the turn from Schumacher, who not long ago cast Norris as the softer touch and Piastri as the one with the necessary edge. That was then. Now we’re in the part of the season where every micro-decision is a macro-statement: how hard you fight your teammate off the line, whether the pit wall intervenes, who gets the undercut priority, how grievances are aired — or not.
McLaren’s approach on Sunday felt deliberate. They’ve allowed their drivers to race all year, only getting involved when absolutely necessary. Singapore didn’t cross that threshold in Woking’s eyes. And given the stakes, you can understand the logic. Team orders would have parked a live intra-team conversation into public view for the rest of the season. Letting them fight keeps both invested and, crucially, keeps a lid on accusations of favoritism when the title picture is still fluid.
The counterpoint is obvious: points now are gold dust, and Singapore was expensive for one of their drivers. You can argue that a quick switch-back would’ve corrected an in-house error and protected the bigger haul. But once you pull that lever, you don’t get to un-pull it. You’re declaring a pecking order. McLaren, for now, is resisting that temptation.
As for blame, there’s enough to go around. Singapore’s opening lap is always a little survival-of-the-bravest; three cars at the same apex rarely ends with three happy radios. Norris had the launch and earned the right to put his car there. Piastri had the qualifying position and tried to assert it. The door was open until it wasn’t, and neither was inclined to blink first.
The bigger story is what it does to the dynamic from here. Piastri’s been the more metronomic of the two in spells; Norris has delivered the surges that swing weekends. That blend is why McLaren has been living in the sharp end of the grid this year. But harmony only stretches so far when both can smell the big prize. One tough Sunday doesn’t break a partnership, and these two handle themselves better than most. Still, Singapore will linger. Drivers remember Turn 3 moments long after the press conference ends.
Stella and his engineers now enter the managerial endgame — the side of a title fight that never shows up on a timing screen. Keep them racing, but keep it clean. Keep the garage neutral, but keep the points flowing. Keep a lid on the radio chatter, but don’t muzzle them. Not easy when every start feels like a championship moment.
For Norris, Singapore was an assertive marker laid down at lights-out. For Piastri, it was a reminder that this phase of the season tests more than outright pace. And for McLaren? It’s confirmation that they’ve got two drivers willing to throw elbows for the same piece of tarmac. That’s a privilege and a problem — the kind every team chasing titles eventually has to solve.
