Formula 1: Oscar Piastri rages over 'unfair' Lando Norris to mar McLaren title

McLaren have been crowned F1 constructors’ champions at the Singapore Grand Prix on a day when team harmony flew out the window with a raging Oscar Piastri accusing Lando Norris of “unfair” driving.

As Mercedes’ George Russell took victory from pole with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen runner-up on Sunday, Norris ended up third, one place ahead of his Australian teammate after colliding with championship leader Piastri while overtaking on a dramatic opening lap.

Norris’s podium ensured the British team sealed back-to-back constructors’ triumphs but the normally calm and controlled Piastri, who’d started third on the grid two places ahead of Norris, sounded rattled after the Englishman made contact while barging through on just the third turn.

Feeling he should have been given the place back as he’d been squeezed toward the barriers, Piastri was overruled by McLaren, while the incident was merely noted by stewards.

Arguably just a hard-but-fair racing incident, Piastri was adamant Norris, who’d also damaged the front wing of his own McLaren when clipping the back of Verstappen’s Red Bull just beforehand, was reckless, saying over the radio: “I mean, that wasn’t very team like”.

He then continued to complain: “So are we cool about Lando just barging me out of the way or? what’s the go there?”

When told the team would look at the clash after the race, Piastri moaned: “That’s not fair, that’s not fair?

“If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, then that’s a pretty shit job of avoiding.”

Piastri later had further cause for dismay when a slow pit stop effectively ruined his chance to make a late charge for the podium.

The 5.2sec stop may have made all the difference as the Australian ended up just two seconds adrift of his teammate.

Piastri’s lead over Norris has now been reduced to 22 points with just six races remaining.

But how may the drama shape Piastri’s approach for the rest of the campaign, as he sounded much more disenchanted than when ordered by McLaren to hand back a place to Norris at Monza after the Briton suffered a poor pit stop.

After the race, Piastri was back to his more considered self, playing the team man again as he said: “Not the race I was looking for, but for the whole team, tonight is a combination of a lot of hard work over not just this year, but lots of years. So it’s a really proud moment for me to be a part of that.”

But he made it clear the issue was far from dead, explaining: “We’re obviously encouraged to share our views on what happened, and I did that, and I’m sure we’ll discuss it more.”

Asked if he agreed with team boss Zak Brown’s post-race assessment that he and Norris were racing hard but clean, he added: “Yes, I think we do. I don’t think there was any intention of contact -- but there was. I need to look at the replay.”

Norris was wholly unapologetic, though. “Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as what I did,” he said.

“So I think if you fault me for just going up the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap then, yeah, I think you shouldn’t be in Formula 1.”

Russell took his ninth career win in dominant fashion by 5.43sec, while his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli was fifth.

Lewis Hamilton was closing on the Italian near the end when the brakes on the seven-time champion’s Ferrari failed, with teammate Charles Leclerc then passing him for sixth.