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The British driver asserts that "any driver on the grid" would have attempted the move that caused renewed tension between Norris and his McLaren teammate the Australian during the recent race.

The Briton collided with his teammate on the corner exit of turn three at the Singapore circuit after a bump with Max Verstappen's Red Bull caused him to slide.

The collision could potentially undermine the well-managed harmony that McLaren has managed to maintain between both competitors through strategic leadership.

Before the race, Norris was behind his teammate by a significant margin in the points table, and narrowed that deficit by only three points after taking the final podium spot behind the Mercedes driver and Verstappen, with his teammate close behind in P4.

Racing Opinions

Norris insisted he had done nothing wrong in overtaking Piastri.

"Every driver on the grid would have done what I did," he stated. "If you criticize me for going for a racing gap, you don't belong in F1.

"I was slightly too close to Max, but that's racing. No major incident occurred, I'm certain I would have finished in front of Oscar anyway because he had the less favorable part of the track on the outer line.

"Of course I need to review it and the worst scenario I want is contact with my racing partner. I am the one who can't afford such situations. I would endanger my position just as much if similar things happened.

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

The driver rejected he had been overly aggressive with Piastri. "I touched Max," he explained, "so I wasn't aggressive with my teammate."

McLaren's Response

The Australian showed unhappiness about the collision. He communicated over the team radio that the squad's choice to take no action about it was "not fair."

After the race, he was more measured, saying he needed to watch the situation before making additional statements.

"The main concern is both vehicles making contact," he commented. "That's never what we want, so I'll analyze it in greater detail."

The Australian has already been the driver to lose out in no fewer than two controversial situations this season.

In Hungary, he was the team's frontrunner initially but Norris was permitted to use a alternative approach to overtake his partner, a choice that competitors have questioned.

During the Italian Grand Prix, the Australian was ordered to let Norris back past for second place after the Briton was held up by a lengthy service. He complained that he believed there had been an understanding that a delayed service was just normal competition that had to be accepted, but acquiesced regardless.

Internally, he was unhappy about that circumstance, and he and the squad held discussions to address the matter.

But questioned after Sunday's race whether he had worries that his teammate might be getting favoritism, the Australian responded: "None."

Did he believe the team had been fair throughout the championship?

"Ultimately, yes," Piastri said. "Could things have been better at specific moments? Certainly, but finally it's a learning process with the entire team and I'm extremely satisfied that the intentions are positive, if that makes sense."

Management Perspective

McLaren boss the Italian said: "We'll have detailed analyses, productive conversations and, like after Canada, we'll come back more resilient and even more united."

The team principal stated that although the squad had analyzed the collision in its direct consequence, "the collision is, in reality, a consequence of another racing situation that occurred between Norris and Verstappen."

Stella added: "Piastri made some statements while he was in the cockpit but that's the type of character that we want from our competitors. They have to express their views, that's what we ask of them.

"The team's review needs to be very detailed, highly methodical, it needs to take into account the viewpoint of our both competitors, and then we will form a shared understanding based on which we will see whether we can simply validate our first assessment or there's additional factors that we should conclude.

"Every time we start our conversations with the competitors, we always recall, as a premise: 'This is difficult'.

"Since this is the single area in which, when you race together, actually you cannot maintain exactly the same interest for the two drivers, because they want to pursue their individual aspirations. This is a foundational principle of the approach we take at the team.

"We must remain accurate, because there's much at stake. That's not just the championship points, but it's also the trust of our drivers in the way we operate as a squad, and this is, perhaps, even more foundational than the points themselves."

Championship Achievement

The incident drew focus from the British team winning the constructors' championship for the second year running.

It is the team's tenth team championship, moving them ahead of their rivals in the all-time list into second place after leaders Ferrari, who have won it on sixteen occasions since the championship's inception in 1958.

This achievement represents one of the earliest times a squad has accomplished this. It matches their rival's achievement in securing the title with six races to go in last season, although that was a 22-race season compared with 24 this year.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the season enters its final stages. That is partly because to the characteristics of the latest tracks not suiting its strengths, and also because the team ceased the development program some time ago, while Mercedes and Red Bull still have updates coming to their vehicles.

That decision by the team was rooted in the reality that they were seeing diminishing returns in developing this vehicle, typical when a design has such an edge at the beginning of a championship, and that they wanted to make certain they were well prepared for next year.

The British driver, however, is well aware of the magnitude of his team's achievement, and the impressive transformation they have shown under their team principal and chief executive officer their leader from recent history, when they started the 2023 season near the back of the grid.

"A second championship is a wonderful achievement," he said. "If you consider where we were three years ago, we have surpassed every team in terms of progress in a period when it is more challenging to achieve with increased limitations and reduced testing.

"In an era when it should be more difficult than ever to excel, that's precisely what the team has accomplished and provided us, by a significant margin, the fastest vehicle on the grid.

"It's consistently a very nice thing to mention. It always puts a smile on your face. But we've additionally performed very well as a team in terms of competitors, between Piastri and myself {pushing each other