Oscar Piastri has called Lando Norris’ move on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix “unfair” after the Briton collided with Piastri side-on.

The Australian had got a good start and was pulling along Max Verstappen, but after backing out, Norris seized his chance and shoved his papaya machine up the inside of his teammate, before hitting the back of the Red Bull and then slamming into the side of Piastri.

 

Norris damaged his front wing from the contact, and luckily Piastri was able to keep his car out of the wall but lost the place to the Briton.

Following the incident, the 23-year-old got on the radio to his team to say: “That wasn’t very team-like, but sure.”

 

Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri was not happy with his teammate during the Singapore Grand Prix

GETTY

Shortly after the first radio message, Piastri asked his team: “Are we cool with Lando just barging me out of the way?”

His engineer, Tom Stallard, confirmed the team was “looking into it,” but came back to say they would take “no action in the race” because “Lando had to avoid Verstappen” and that they would “review it afterwards”.

After hearing that, the normally cool head of Piastri seemed to struggle in the heat as he unleashed an X-rated rant at his teammate he saying: “If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate then thats a pretty s**t job of avoiding.”

After the race, both drivers tried to calm the situation, as Norris said: “It was slippery, but it’s racing. I put it on the inside, had a small correction but nothing more than that. It was good racing.

“I felt like I did everything I could today but I’m happy with that.”

Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri was almost forced into the wall by his teammate

Reuters

Piastri appeared to be calmer once he was out of the car, as he told Sky Sports after the race: “Obviously it was a difficult race and first lap but I’ve not seen the replay… so I will go and have a look.

“It is a great night for the whole team, but just not the race I was looking for. Tonight is a combination of a lot of hard work, not just this year but lots of years, so it’s a really proud moment for me to be a part of that.2

When he was asked if he thought the pair drove clean, he said: “Yes I think we do, I don’t think there was any intention of contact but there was and I need to look at the replay and look at exactly what happened.

“I don’t know, I’ve not seen the incident. I need to look at that first before I say any comments.”

Both Norris and Verstappen have closed in on Piastri after the race in Singapore, but the Australian is remaining positive: “I think just take the learnings from this weekend and see what can be improved,” he said.

“The weekend as a whole was very good and practice and qualifying went well.

“The race was maybe a little bit slow to get going but I feel like the pace for the rest of the race was good.”

Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri
McLaren claimed the Constructor’s Championship despite colliding on the opening lap | REUTERS

“The weekend as a whole was very good and practice and qualifying went well.

“The race was maybe a little bit slow to get going but I feel like the pace for the rest of the race was good.”

F1 will now take a week off before it heads to the Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix.