Norris elbows past Piastri in Singapore — hard racing or over the line?
McLaren’s Sunday in Singapore had everything but serenity. Lando Norris muscled past Oscar Piastri on lap one, their cars kissed through Turns 2 and 3, and the stewards took a long look before ultimately keeping the book closed. The orange cars went on to bank a hefty haul — Norris third with a chipped front wing, Piastri fourth — but the debate over the opening-lap flashpoint is still humming.
Here’s what happened. Norris launched better off the line and dived down Piastri’s inside, the pair running side-by-side through the early sweep. With Max Verstappen looming just ahead, Norris pinched in, had a twitch of oversteer and tagged his teammate as they approached the Turn 3 apex. Both kept it pointing straight, no punctures, no major floor damage apparent. In the grand scheme of McLaren implosions, this was a glancing blow, not a civil war.
Race Control briefly investigated and, in keeping with the sport’s usual first-lap leniency, saw no need for penalties. That didn’t stop the radio traffic. Piastri felt he’d been barged aside and said as much. Norris’s view was more… pragmatic. In his words, it was just racing — a gap appeared, he went for it, and he reckons anyone else on the grid would have done the same.
Team boss Andrea Stella, never one for public dramatics, confirmed McLaren will run their standard internal review when the drivers get this close. Expect a calm debrief, a few still frames on the big screen, and an agreed line for the next time they find themselves splitting a late-braking apex in papaya.
So, did Norris cross it? You can read the moment two ways.
The “nothing to see here” camp will point out that lap one is chaotic, space compresses behind the leader and contact happens. Norris was entitled to the inside line after the launch; he didn’t spear in from a postcode away, and the snap behind Verstappen explains the light rub. Stewards agreed it was marginal enough to let go.
The “team-first” argument says Norris put Piastri in a box that didn’t need to close that quickly on lap one, with a Red Bull up the road and 61 laps to sort out team order. McLaren’s title ambitions — and yes, both drivers’ — are better served by keeping carbon intact, and there was just enough room to leave a car’s width without a tap. To that end, Piastri’s frustration makes sense.
What’s not in doubt is the stakes. Norris and Piastri remain one of the sharpest driver pairings on the 2025 grid, and they’ve generally managed their proximity without fireworks. But as the calendar thins and podiums matter even more, the edges get sharper. McLaren walks a tightrope: let the racers race, but don’t let competitive pride turn into friendly fire.
Our read? It sits in that slippery middle ground modern stewarding loves: a racing incident, tinged with teammate discomfort. If you’re looking to assign blame, there’s a sliver on both sides. Norris could’ve left a fraction more margin; Piastri, seeing the lunge, might have conceded earlier and tried the cutback. That they both finished strongly is the biggest relief for Woking.
Have your say
Was Norris’s move on Piastri fair? Hard racing or a step too far for lap one with your teammate? Cast your vote in the poll below and we’ll publish the results later this week, along with your best reader comments.
The bigger picture
– McLaren banked a 3-4 despite the contact — exactly the sort of consistency that keeps a season on track.
– The stewards’ no-action call fits the pattern for start-lap scrapes, especially with mitigating factors like dirty air and concertina effects behind the leader.
– Internally, expect McLaren to reiterate the basics: leave space, trust the car, and remember there are two of you in the same garage chasing the same trophies.
However you score it, Singapore gave us a reminder of why teammate battles feel different. There’s no satisfaction in beating a stranger like there is in outfoxing the person across the debrief table — and no headache quite like the one that follows when paint gets traded in the process.
