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The British driver claims that "every competitor on the grid" would have made the maneuver that sparked renewed tension between Norris and fellow driver Oscar Piastri during the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Briton collided with Piastri on the exit of turn three at Marina Bay after a bump with Max Verstappen's Red Bull sent his car sideways.

This incident threatens to undermine the well-managed harmony that the British team has managed to maintain between both competitors through thoughtful management.

Before the race, the British driver trailed Piastri by a significant margin in the points table, and reduced 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.

Driver Perspectives

Norris insisted he had acted appropriately in passing Piastri.

"Every driver on the starting lineup would have attempted what I did," he stated. "Should you fault me for going for a racing gap, you shouldn't be in Formula 1.

"I was slightly too close to Verstappen, but that's competition. Nothing serious happened, I'm certain I would have finished in front of Oscar anyway because he had the dirty part of the track on the outer line.

"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 put myself at risk just as much if that occurred.

"I will examine it but the FIA obviously thought it was acceptable and the McLaren did, too."

The driver rejected he had been too forceful with his teammate. "I touched Max," he explained, "meaning I wasn't forceful with my teammate."

McLaren's Response

The Australian showed displeasure about the incident. He said over the in-car communication that the team's decision to take no action about it was "unjust."

After the race, he was circumspect, saying he needed to review the situation before making additional statements.

"The primary issue is two cars coming together," he noted. "That's never what we want, so I'll analyze it in greater detail."

Piastri has already been the driver to suffer in no fewer than two controversial situations this year.

In Hungary, he was the leading McLaren driver initially but Norris was permitted to use a alternative approach to beat his teammate, a choice that rival teams have scrutinized.

And in Italy, the Australian was instructed to let Norris back past for second place after the Briton was delayed by a lengthy service. Piastri complained that he thought there had been an agreement that a slow pit stop was just normal competition that had to be tolerated, but acquiesced regardless.

Internally, he was unhappy about that situation, and he and the team conducted talks to resolve it.

But questioned after Sunday's race whether he had worries that Norris might be receiving preferential treatment, Piastri said: "No."

Did he believe the squad had been fair all season?

"Ultimately, yes," he said. "Could things have been better at specific moments? Certainly, but finally it's a developmental journey with the entire team and I'm extremely happy that the intentions are very well meaning, if that makes sense."

Management Perspective

McLaren boss the Italian commented: "We'll have detailed analyses, productive conversations and, similar to post-Canada, we'll return more resilient and more cohesive."

Stella explained that although the squad had reviewed the collision in its immediate aftermath, "this contact is, actually, a consequence of different circumstances that happened between Norris and Verstappen."

Stella added: "Oscar made some comments while he was in the cockpit but that's the type of character that we want from our competitors. They have to make their position clear, that's what we ask of them.

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

"Whenever we start our conversations with the competitors, we always recall, as a premise: 'This is challenging'.

"Because this is the single area in which, when you compete as teammates, in fact you cannot maintain exactly the same interest for the both competitors, because they seek to achieve their personal goals. This is a core concept of the way we race at McLaren.

"We must remain accurate, because there's much at stake. That's not just the championship points, but it's also the confidence of our competitors in the manner we function as a squad, and this is, perhaps, more fundamental than the points themselves."

McLaren's Success

The controversy deflected attention from McLaren securing the constructors' championship for the second year running.

It is McLaren's 10th constructors' title, placing them ahead of Williams in the all-time list into runner-up position after record-holders the Italian team, who have claimed it on sixteen occasions since the competition began in the late fifties.

This achievement represents one of the earliest times a squad has accomplished this. It matches their rival's achievement in securing the title with multiple events remaining in 2023, although that was a shorter championship compared with 24 this season.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the championship heads into its concluding phase. That is partly because to the nature of the latest tracks not favoring its strengths, and also because McLaren turned off the development program earlier, while their rivals still have new parts arriving to their cars.

This choice by the team was rooted in the reality that they were experiencing reduced benefits in developing this vehicle, common when a concept has such an edge at the beginning of a season, and that they wanted to ensure they were well prepared for the following season.

The British driver, however, is fully conscious of the magnitude of his squad's accomplishment, and the impressive transformation 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 close to the rear of the grid.

"A second championship is a wonderful achievement," Norris said. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have surpassed every team in terms of progress in a time when it is harder to achieve with increased limitations and reduced testing.

"At a time when it should be harder than ever to excel, that's exactly what the team has accomplished and provided us, clearly, the best car on the starting lineup.

"That's always a very nice thing to mention. It always brings satisfaction on your expression. But we've also excelled as a squad in terms of drivers, between Oscar and myself {pushing each other