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Lando Norris asserts that "any driver on the grid" would have attempted the move that sparked fresh controversy between Norris and fellow driver Oscar Piastri during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris made contact with Piastri on the exit of turn three at the Singapore circuit after contact with the leading car caused him to slide.

The collision threatens to disrupt the carefully maintained team unity that McLaren has successfully preserved between their two drivers through thoughtful management.

Before the race, Norris was behind Piastri by 25 points in the points table, and narrowed that gap by only a small amount after finishing third behind winner George Russell and the Red Bull star, with Piastri close behind in P4.

Driver Perspectives

The Briton maintained he had done nothing wrong in overtaking Piastri.

"Anyone on the grid would have attempted what I did," he stated. "If you criticize me for taking a racing gap, you don't belong in F1.

"My car was slightly too close to Max, but that's competition. No major incident occurred, I'm confident I would have finished in front of Piastri anyway because he had the dirty part of the circuit on the outside.

"Of course I need to review it and the last thing I want is contact with my teammate. I am the one who must avoid any incidents. I would endanger my position just as much if that occurred.

"I'll review it but the governing body clearly thought it was fine and the McLaren did, as well."

Norris denied he had been too forceful with Piastri. "I made contact with Max," he explained, "so I wasn't forceful with my racing partner."

McLaren's Response

The Australian showed unhappiness about the incident. He communicated over the team radio that the team's decision to take no action about it was "unjust."

Post-event, he was more measured, saying he needed to review the situation before making additional statements.

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

The Australian has already been the competitor to suffer in no fewer than multiple debatable incidents this year.

In Hungary, he was the leading McLaren driver early in the race but his teammate was allowed to use a alternative approach to beat his partner, a decision that competitors have scrutinized.

And in Italy, Piastri was instructed to let Norris back past for second place after the British driver was delayed by a slow pit stop. Piastri complained that he believed there had been an agreement that a delayed service was just normal competition that had to be accepted, but complied anyway.

Internally, he was not pleased about that circumstance, and he and the team conducted talks to address the matter.

But when asked after Sunday's race whether he had any concerns that Norris might be receiving preferential treatment, the Australian said: "No."

Did he believe the squad had been equitable all season?

"Ultimately, yes," he said. "Might situations have been better at certain points? Certainly, but ultimately it's a learning process with the whole squad and I'm very happy that the aims are very well meaning, if that is understandable."

Management Perspective

McLaren boss Andrea Stella said: "We will conduct detailed analyses, constructive discussions and, like after Canada, we'll return more resilient and even more united."

Stella explained that although the team had reviewed the collision in its immediate aftermath, "the collision is, actually, a result of another racing situation that occurred between Lando and the Red Bull driver."

He continued: "Oscar made some comments while he was in the car but that's the kind of attitude that we expect from our competitors. They have to make their position clear, that's what we ask of them.

"The team's review needs to be extremely thorough, very analytical, it needs to take into account the viewpoint of our two drivers, and then we will develop a shared understanding upon which we will determine whether we can just confirm our first assessment or there's something else that we should conclude.

"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 identical objectives for the two drivers, because they seek to achieve their personal goals. This is a core concept of the way we race at McLaren.

"We need to be accurate, because there's much at stake. That's not only the championship points, but it's additionally the confidence of our competitors in the manner we function as a squad, and this is, perhaps, even more foundational than the points themselves."

Championship Achievement

The controversy deflected attention from McLaren winning the team title for the second year running.

It is McLaren's 10th constructors' title, moving them above their rivals in the all-time list into second place after leaders the Italian team, who have won it on sixteen occasions since the competition began in 1958.

This achievement represents one of the earliest times a squad has accomplished this. It matches Red Bull's feat in securing the title with multiple events remaining in last season, although that was a shorter championship compared with 24 this year.

The team's lead has reduced as the season enters its concluding phase. That is partly because to the characteristics of the latest tracks not suiting its capabilities, and also because McLaren ceased the development program earlier, while their rivals still have updates coming to their cars.

This choice by McLaren was rooted in the reality that they were experiencing reduced benefits in improving this car, common when a concept has such an edge at the beginning of a championship, and that they wanted to ensure they were ready for next year.

The British driver, however, is fully conscious of the scale of his team's achievement, and the remarkable turnaround they have demonstrated under their team principal and chief executive officer their leader from just over two years ago, when they began the previous championship near the rear of the grid.

"A second championship is a great thing," Norris said. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have outperformed every team in terms of progress in a period when it is more challenging to achieve with increased limitations and reduced testing.

"At a time when it should be more difficult than before to dominate, that's exactly what the squad has accomplished and provided us, by a significant margin, the best car on the grid.

"It's consistently a very nice thing to mention. It always puts a smile on your expression. But we've also excelled as a team in terms of competitors, between Oscar and myself {pushing each other