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The British driver asserts that "any driver on the grid" would have made the maneuver that sparked fresh controversy between himself and fellow driver the Australian during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris made contact with his teammate on the corner exit of turn three at Marina Bay after contact with Max Verstappen's Red Bull sent his car sideways.

The collision threatens to undermine the carefully maintained harmony that the British team has successfully preserved between their two drivers through thoughtful management.

Before the race, Norris trailed his teammate by a significant margin in the championship standings, and reduced that deficit by only three points after finishing third behind winner George Russell and Verstappen, with his teammate close behind in P4.

Racing Opinions

Norris insisted he had done nothing wrong in passing his teammate.

"Every driver on the grid would have attempted what I did," he commented. "If you criticize me for taking a big opportunity, you shouldn't be in F1.

"My car was slightly too close to Verstappen, but that's racing. No major incident occurred, I'm confident I would have ended up ahead of Piastri anyway because he had the dirty part of the track on the outside.

"Of course I need to analyze it and the worst scenario I want is collision with my racing partner. I am the one who can't afford such situations. I would endanger my position just as much if that occurred.

"I will examine it but the governing body clearly thought it was acceptable and the McLaren did, too."

Norris denied he had been too forceful with Piastri. "I touched Max," he explained, "so I wasn't aggressive with my teammate."

Team Dynamics

Piastri expressed displeasure about the incident. He communicated over the in-car communication that the team's decision to take no action about it was "not fair."

Post-event, he was circumspect, stating he needed to watch the incident before commenting further.

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

Piastri has already been the competitor to lose out in at least two controversial situations this year.

In Hungary, he was the leading McLaren driver early in the race but Norris was permitted to use a different strategy to overtake his partner, a decision that competitors have scrutinized.

And in Italy, Piastri was ordered to let Norris back past for second place after the Briton was held up by a lengthy service. Piastri expressed concern that he thought there had been an agreement that a delayed service was just part of racing that had to be tolerated, but complied anyway.

Behind the scenes, he was not pleased about that situation, and he and the team conducted talks to address the matter.

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

Was he convinced the team had been fair all season?

"In the end, affirmative," Piastri said. "Could things have been better at certain points? Certainly, but ultimately it's a learning process with the entire team and I'm extremely happy that the aims are positive, if that is understandable."

Management Perspective

McLaren boss Andrea Stella said: "We'll have thorough reviews, productive conversations and, similar to post-Canada, we'll return more resilient and even more united."

Stella stated that although the team had reviewed the collision in its direct consequence, "this contact is, in reality, a consequence of different circumstances that happened between Norris and Verstappen."

Stella added: "Piastri made some statements while he was in the car but that's the kind of attitude that we expect from our drivers. They have to express their views, that's what we ask of them.

"Our analysis needs to be extremely thorough, very analytical, it needs to take into account the perspective of our both competitors, and then we will form a common opinion based on which we will see whether we can simply validate our first assessment or there's something else that we should decide.

"Whenever we start our discussions with the drivers, we always recall, as a foundation: 'This is challenging'.

"Because this is the only matter in which, when you compete as teammates, actually you can't have exactly the same interest for the both competitors, because they seek to achieve their personal goals. This is a foundational principle of the approach we take at McLaren.

"We need to be accurate, because there's much at risk. That's not only the valuable points, but it's also the trust of our competitors in the manner we function as a team, and this is, if anything, even more foundational than the championship standings."

McLaren's Success

The incident deflected attention from the British team securing the team title for the second year running.

It is McLaren's tenth team championship, moving them above their rivals in the all-time list into runner-up position after leaders the Italian team, who have claimed it on sixteen occasions since the competition began in the late fifties.

This achievement represents one of the quickest instances a squad has done this. It equals Red Bull's feat in securing the title with six races to go in last season, although that was a shorter championship compared with twenty-four this season.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the championship enters its concluding phase. That is partly because to the characteristics of the three most recent circuits not suiting its strengths, and also because McLaren ceased the upgrade process some time ago, while Mercedes and Red Bull still have new parts arriving to their vehicles.

That decision by McLaren was based on the reality that they were experiencing reduced benefits in developing this vehicle, common when a design has such an advantage at the start of a championship, and that they wanted to make certain they were well prepared for the following season.

Norris, however, is well aware of the scale of his squad's accomplishment, and the remarkable turnaround they have demonstrated under their team principal and CEO their leader from just over two years ago, when they started the previous championship close to the back of the grid.

"Another title is a wonderful achievement," he commented. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have surpassed every squad in terms of progress in a period when it is more challenging to achieve with more restrictions and less wind tunnel time.

"In an era when it should be harder than before to dominate, that's exactly what the team has done and given us, by a significant margin, the best car on the grid.

"That's always a pleasing aspect to say. It always puts a smile on your face. But we've additionally excelled as a team in terms of drivers, between Oscar and me {pushing each other