McLaren trio – Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Andrea Stella – address the latest drama involving the F1 team after Lap 1 incident in Singapore GP.
The cleaner side helped McLaren’s Norris to get a good launch at the start of F1 Singapore GP, which allowed him to challenge teammate Piastri into Turn 1-2. The Brit had a steery moment at Turn 3 and touched the back of Max Verstappen. That led to side-by-side touch against the Australian.
Piastri had to avoid the outside wall as he lost a place to be fourth, while Norris gained two to be third. The Australian was clear on the radio to showcase his displeasure and wanted McLaren to intervene. The stewards clear the incident and the team stuck by that to retain the places as it is.
The whole race was Norris catching Verstappen, as Piastri lost the momentum. The Australian couldn’t do much and was left frustrated with a fourth place finish. He lost three points to the Brit in the end and six to the Dutchman in the F1 title fight. So much so, that he seemingly cut radio at parc ferme.
At that time, Zak Brown was congratulating him to on McLaren’s constructors’ title win. Post-race, Piastri didn’t step on the podium when the team was celebrating, with the Australian completing his media commitments. He was visibly frustrated, but did not elaborated on the incident.
While Norris was clear, as was Stella, that the incident was the result of the Brit’s moment with Verstappen, the Australian wanted to watch the video before commenting anything. He is not worried about any preferential treatment, as he was waiting for the debrief to understand what transpired.
Norris explained his side and the push to catch Verstappen. At the same time, Stella harped on the philosophical line about review and coming out stronger from the situation. He felt Piastri was fair to showcase his displeasure and didn’t wish to draw larger conclusions just yet.
What happened –
Norris: “I can’t remember it, to be honest. I think the start was good. Just the right-hand side of the grid was good. I think it was a good launch as well, so I got across and put myself in a good position to not get checked up out of Turn 1 and into Turn 2. Just had a big up on the inside of Oscar. It was very close, you know, so slippery because it was still damp in places and drying out. I think I just clipped the back of Max’s car, and that just gave me a little correction, but then that was it.
“So yeah, good in terms of getting two positions. If I didn’t get them there, I probably never would have got them, just because, like we saw, it was too difficult to overtake. So the aggression there and the forward thinking paid off. No. I didn’t even know at the time [when we hit]. Well, I hit Max, so it wasn’t aggressive on my teammate. Yep [I hit Oscar because of the Max moment]. No idea [if damage cost me]. But not much.”
Piastri: “I need to look more at the replays to know exactly what happened. Obviously, I think the main thing is the two cars coming together is never what we want. I’ll go and have a look at it in more detail and come to my conclusion. I mean I thought….in the moment….it is first lap, tensions are high. We’re obviously encouraged to share our views on what happened. I did that. I’m sure we’ll discuss it more after.”
Stella: “I think the first lap situation is one of those that can happen with this close racing, we will review the situation together with our drivers we will have the good conversations like we had for instance after Canada and this review gave us the opportunity after Canada to come back. We said at the time even more united and stronger as a team, we will see if there’s any learning and anything that we need to fine-tune in terms of our approach. But yeah, I think this will just lead to some good conversations, obviously Oscar made some statements while he was in the car but that’s the kind of character that we want to have from our drivers they have to make their position very clear that’s what we ask them.
“At the same time we have to put things in perspective the perspective of a driver that is in a Formula One car with the intensity of it being the first lap and the perspective that obviously just saw Lando moving on to him but we know that Lando in reality had a contact with Verstappen and oversteered on to Oscar, so we will have good reviews good conversations and like after Canada, we’ll come back stronger and even more united.”
Race, pace –
Norris: “Probably, but probably just a little too late in the weekend to say that. I think more just the race pace was strong, like it always is, and we just weren’t good enough yesterday. I think we still need to understand… I think we understand why, but if we were to re-run qualifying now, what would we really do different? I don’t think we have maybe the best or clearest picture, and that’s the only reason we couldn’t win today. But the pace was, I think, also the best out there. It didn’t matter — I couldn’t get past Max. He didn’t make any mistakes and it’s too difficult to follow here. So a bit of a shame, but I did what I could. And even though I was feeling good with the car, and I felt like if I could get past Max, I’d be able to try and have a crack at catching George, and I think I would. It’s just too difficult to follow and too difficult to overtake.”
Stella: “Obviously we don’t have the counterproof because we didn’t start first, we started third and fifth because yesterday we didn’t have the pace to be in pole position but at the same time I think today we take some encouraging indications from the race itself. The pace was strong, it’s an important element of confirmation as we look at the reminder of the season, there was some tyre degradation today and I think we confirmed that when there is tyre degradation, then our car seems to be showing some of its positive characteristics, therefore encouraging and promising for the reminder of the season, even for tracks where we said already yesterday because of track layout we may be not necessarily the best car so positive indications from the race.”
Contact happened, now what –
Norris: “I’ve still not even seen it. I still need to go in and see it. I might look at it and think there’s something else I could have done or done better. Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as I did. So I think if you fault me for just going on the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap, then, yeah, I think you shouldn’t be in Formula 1. So, you know, I don’t think there was anything wrong that I did. Of course, I misjudged a little bit how close I was to Max, but that’s racing. Nothing happened otherwise, and I’m sure I still would have ended up ahead of Oscar anyway because I was on the inside and he would have had the dirty side of the track on the outside.
“So, I need to go review it, of course. I need to look at things and see if there was something I could have done better. The last thing I want is to make contact with my teammate, especially because all I get is questions from you guys. So, you know, I’m the one that can’t afford anything compared to him. I would put myself at risk just as much if that kind of thing happens. So, yeah, I’ll see what I can do with it next time. But the FIA obviously thought it was fine, and the team did too. So, that’s it.”
Piastri: “I need to see the incident in more detail, honestly. Once I have the full picture of things, then yes. Undoubtedly, we will speak about it. I want to see exactly what happened before I make any conclusions. I think ultimately yes. There have been some difficult situations for the whole team, and I think we’ve obviously spoken about a number of things. Could things have been better? Yes, ultimately it’s a learning process with the whole team, and I am very happy that the intentions are very well meant, so I have absolutely no concerns about that. Just obviously there have been some tough situations this year, and this one was another one.”
Stella: “In terms of having a contact between our two drivers, this contact is in reality a consequence of another racing situation that happened between Lando and Verstappen, so definitely because there was a contact itself this will lead like I said before, to a review and some good conversations but in the moment we thought that this contact was more a result of another racing situation let’s say. You know like our review needs to be very detailed, very analytical, it needs to take into account the point of view of our two drivers and then we will form a common opinion based on which we will see whether we can just confirm our initial interpretation or there’s something else that we should conclude in terms of like going for the gap.
“I think it’s just a bit too much of a coarse approach, let me say we need to retain a higher degree of sophistication and detail because there’s so much so many elements that you need to take into account and we need to make sure that we don’t become too quick in drawing conclusions. We need to be accurate because there’s a lot at stake and there’s a lot at stake is not only the championship points but it’s also the trust of our drivers in the way we operate as a team and this is if anything even more foundational than the points themselves so we will apply it all the accuracy that is required in this case and all the conversations that are needed.”
Radio, frustration –
Piastri: “I think most of my comments were over two laps out of 62. I don’t know. Maybe it was delayed more on TV. I felt like once I got into my rhythm a bit later in the first stint, I felt like the pace was pretty good. I just didn’t have the track position to do anything with it. No [not concerned about Lando getting preferential treatment]. No [not concerned if those moments will be problem in the end].”
Stella: “Well obviously it’s within the power and the rights of the team to act should there be the case, so there’s been an assessment of the people we thought that there was no need to do so, but like I said before we do want, we do ask our driver to make their position very clear that’s what Oscar did. Then we made our assessment and we thought that the right course of action is the one that we took but part of the process is the review that will happen in the coming days and like I said before surely this will lead to an even more united and stronger team.”
Here’s Lap 1 moment: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-singapore-grand-prix-russell-leads-as-norris-jumps-up-to-p3-on-the-race-start.1845144149468310790
Here’s Lando Norris chasing Max Verstappen: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-singapore-grand-prix-verstappen-fends-off-norris-attack-in-the-closing-stages.1845156945129037412
Here’s how F1 Singapore GP panned out