CHAMPIONSHIP tensions threatened to boil over at McLaren as Oscar Piastri raged at the “unfair” treatment of Lando Norris following a first-lap collision between the pair at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Briton George Russell took a maiden chequered flag at the Formula One track for his second race win of the season ahead of Max Verstappen and Norris.
AFPGeorge Russell won the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris[/caption]
AlamyBut there was anger at McLaren as Oscar Piastri blasted the ‘unfair’ treatment of Lando Norris[/caption]
The Red Bull ace had raged at Norris for getting in his way and denying him pole during qualifying, and Norris was once again in the verbal crosshairs of a title rival during the race, this time in the form of his McLaren team-mate
The two championship frontrunners hit one another on the opening lap as Norris squeezed up the inside of Piastri at Turn 3.
And the normally ice cool 24-year-old saw red in the Singapore sauna as he launched an X-rated blast down to his team radio after the stewards decided that no further action would be taken for the incident.
He was heard moaning: “That’s not fair. I am sorry, that’s not fair.
“If he has to avoid another crash by crashing into his team-mate, then that’s a **** poor job of avoiding.”
The angry Aussie was informed that the team’s now famous Papaya rules were very much back on the table at the Marina Street Bay Circuit as he was told to “focus” and “get on with the racing” by his race engineer.
Norris, 25, had his own concerns over potential damage to the right side of his car in the collision, although it did not appear to impact his pace as he punched a decent sized hole in the time between himself and Piastri behind him.
While the drivers’ championship is still up for grabs, and now very much a three-way title fight after four-time world champion Verstappen closed the gap to 63 points, McLaren still had reason to celebrate as they were crowned Constructors’ Championship winners.
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It was the Woking team’s 10th team title overall, now moving them clear of Williams for the second most Constructors’ Championship titles in F1 behind only Ferrari on 16.
Starting aggressively on soft tyres, Verstappen had hoped to jump Russell at the start to gain the advantage of clear air out front.
However, Russell was also quick off the mark and kept the Dutchman in his rear-view mirrors.
Verstappen was the first of the front-runners to box for hard compound tyres on lap 20, with Russell following suit six laps later in a stunning Mercedes double stack alongside Kimi Antonelli.
The McLaren pitwall asked lead driver Norris whether he wanted to allow Piastri to pit first to cover off the undercut threat of Charles Leclerc.
He strangely said yes at first before swiftly changing his mind and entering the pits on lap 27.
Piastri’s stop did not go to plan either, with the rear left coming off slow and leaving the championship leader stranded with a 5.2 second stop, although he was still back out ahead of the Ferrari ace.
Further down the order, Lewis Hamilton had endured a nightmare start dropping from P6 to P8 before recovering to P7 to pit for hard tyres on lap 26 – before a second pit for soft tyres on lap 47 as a gamble for a potential safety car.
Hamilton had overtaken Kimi Antonelli for P5 but told his team he had lost his brakes, ultimately seeing his promising pace fade as he was forced to limp over the line in P7 just half a second ahead of Fernando Alonso, who had been more than 40 seconds behind him.
Prior to last season’s race in Singapore there had been at least one safety car appearance in every Grand Prix since F1’s debut season in 2007, but for the second year running it was once again a no-show, while there was also a lack of the usual tyre degradation issues seen in previous seasons too.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg had a big spin on lap 45 which luckily did not see him end up in the wall.
That only brought out a yellow flag before the German was able to drive away and continue his race.
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