🔗 Share this article Piastri labels Norris overtake 'unjust' as George Russell takes the checkered flag The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris side by side as the Briton overtakes his colleague at the beginning Tensions between championship competitors Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri escalated significantly as their McLaren team secured the team title at the Singapore Grand Prix. Norris made contact with Piastri while overtaking at the first corner at the start of the race, prompting the Australian to state it was "not fair" the team did not ask them to reverse positions. On-track Incident Overshadows Team Celebration The incident that is likely to cause issues at McLaren came as Norris dived down the inside of Piastri after getting away well from fifth on the grid. Norris was surprised by Verstappen slowing more than he anticipated in the middle of Turn Three. Norris touched the Red Bull, damaging the McLaren's front wing endplate, and that caused him to deflect side-on into Piastri, whose momentum was disrupted, allowing Norris to move ahead into third place. Driver Communications Show Growing Tension Piastri said over the team communication: "That wasn't very team-like, but sure." Shortly afterwards, he continued: "Is it acceptable that Lando just pushing me out of the way?" His engineer responded that the team were "looking at it", before following up to tell Piastri that they would take "no action" in the race because "Lando had to avoid Verstappen" and that they would "analyze it afterwards". Championship Implications Piastri's points advantage over Norris was cut to twenty-two points with six races remaining Verstappen has also closed in and is 63 adrift of the lead McLaren secured their second consecutive team championship Event Overview George Russell dominated the race at the lead on his way to a commanding victory, very much in the manner of his victory in Canada back in June. Verstappen opted to start the race on softer compound rather than the mediums on most other cars in the leading group, but the strategy did not prove successful and Russell comfortably maintained the lead at the start before stretching out a significant advantage. "The track conditions were challenging, but it's racing. I took the inner line, had a minor adjustment but nothing significant. It was hard but fair competition." - Lando Norris Midfield Battle Mercedes' newcomer Kimi Antonelli secured P5, passing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the fifty-fourth lap as the Ferrari lost performance, and then holding off Lewis Hamilton in the final stages. Fernando Alonso delivered a strong performance to take P8 as the top performer outside the leading teams. The Spanish driver and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar fought a brief battle in the first three laps, Alonso overtaking Hadjar into the first corner to take P8, before the Frenchman got him back later in the lap, only for Alonso to pass again on lap three.