Martin Brundle believes “the ground rules have changed” between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after the title-contending McLaren team-mates made contact on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.
With Norris beginning fifth and Piastri third on the Marina Bay Avenue Circuit, the previous took benefit of a powerful getaway to surge previous the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and launch an tried overtake on his team-mate.
Norris acquired up the within of Piastri at Flip 3, however then made contact with the Crimson Bull of Max Verstappen forward, together with his response to that preliminary collision sending him proper and into his team-mate, with the heavy wheel-to-wheel hit virtually sending the Australian into the barrier.
Piastri appeared initially to recommend over the radio that McLaren ought to reverse his and Norris’ positions, after which fumed when he was advised the staff would not “take any action during the race”.
He mentioned on the radio: “That is not truthful. I am sorry, that is not truthful.
“If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his team-mate, then that’s a pretty **** job of avoiding.”
Sky Sports activities F1 commentator Brundle’s evaluation through the race was: “I believe the bottom guidelines between the 2 McLarens have simply modified for the remainder of the season.
“I thought it was punchy, opportunistic, aggressive, but this is a motor race. The ground rules have just been reset.
“I am unable to see how McLaren would swap that spherical or how they might justify (swapping) it.
“But Oscar will say, ‘ok, then, that’s it. That’s how we’re going racing.'”
Piastri extra measured after race
Regardless of Norris’ finest makes an attempt to problem Verstappen for second place, the problem of overtaking meant the McLaren duo completed in the identical positions they ended the primary lap.
The upshot was that Norris diminished Piastri’s championship result in 22 factors, whereas Verstappen closed to inside 63 factors of the Australian with six rounds of the season remaining.
The end result additionally noticed McLaren seal a second successive Constructors’ Championship, with the staff successful back-to-back titles for the primary time since 1991.
Piastri, who was clearly eager for the staff’s triumph to not be overshadowed, was measured in his post-race interview with Sky Sports activities F1.
“Obviously a difficult race, a difficult first lap. I’ve not seen the replay. I just know from in the car, so I’ll go and have a look,” he mentioned.
“It’s obviously a great night for the whole team. Obviously not the race I was looking for, but for the whole team, tonight is the culmination of a lot of hard work from not just this year, but lots of years. It’s a really proud moment for me to be a part of that and a proud moment for the whole team.”
Requested whether or not he believes that he and Norris nonetheless race “cleanly”, Piastri replied: “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 see what exactly happened.”
Extra to observe…
F1’s title race now heads again to North America, with the US Grand Prix in Austin up first on October 17-19 reside on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime