Lando Norris vs Oscar Piasstri: McLaren admits worry about maintaining drivers’ confidence after Singapore crash | F1 News

McLaren boss Andrea Stella says a “very detailed” review of Lando Norris’ collision in the Singapore Grand Prix with teammate Oscar Piasteri is required to ensure drivers retain “confidence” in the team.

Championship leader Piasstri caused a fall when his closest title rival, Norris, spun two Papaya cars while skipping the first lap, eventually reducing the gap between them to 22 points with six rounds remaining.

The stewards did not intervene, while McLaren rejected Radio Piastri’s request for the team to take action against the Briton, on the grounds that they believed the collision had only occurred as a result of Norris’ response to a cut to clip the back of Max Verstappen at Red Bull moments earlier.

Piasstri was gushing on radio that McLaren’s decision was “not fair”, and while he was more no-nonsense during his post-race interviews, Sky Sports F1 Pundit Jimmy Chadwick was among many expressing a belief that “the gloves are off” for the rest of the title fight.

“Our review has to be very detailed and very analytical,” McLaren team principal Stella said after McLaren sealed the McLaren Championship title in Singapore.

“You must take into account the point of view of our drivers, and then we will form a consensus opinion based on whether we can only confirm our initial interpretation or there is something else we should conclude.”

Asked if he was happy to see Norris make an aggressive move by attacking the gap that opened in the third turn of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Stella replied: “In terms of going into the gap, I think it’s just too much of a rough approach.

“We need to retain a higher degree of sophistication and detail because there are many more elements that need to be taken into account and we need to make sure that we are not too quick to draw conclusions, we need to be precise because there is a lot more at stake.

“It’s not just the championship points, it’s also the confidence of our drivers in the way we work as a team and that, if anything, is more than the points themselves.

“Therefore, we will apply all the precision required in this case and all the conversations required.”

“We will come back stronger and more united.”

Despite accepting the sensitive nature of the situation, Stella remains confident that the team will “come back stronger and more united” at the US Grand Prix later this month.

Stella used the example of the only other collision this season between Norris and Piastri – in Canada – to support his confidence that the incident can be overcome.

He said: “We will review the situation with our drivers, we will have good conversations, as we had, for example, after Canada.

“This review has given us the opportunity after Canada to come back, as we said at the time, even more united and stronger as a team.”

However, there are clear differences between the two incidents, with the more severe collision in Canada being less controversial because Norris immediately took responsibility for it and apologised.

Any tension that may have been created after the Montreal clash was also likely to be diffused by the fact that it was Norris who retired and lost ground in the title race as a result of the collision.

Despite these differences, Stella seemed confident that Piasstri’s assessment of the incident from outside the cockpit would be more measured than his initial response.

“Obviously Oscar made some statements while he was in the car, but that’s the kind of character we want our drivers to have,” Stella said. “They have to make their position clear, that’s what we ask them.

“At the same time, we have to keep things in perspective, the perspective of the driver being in the Formula 1 car, with the intensity of it being the first lap, the perspective that he obviously saw Lando go through, but we know that Lando in fact had contact with Verstappen and passed Oscar.

“So we will have good reviews, good conversations, and just like after Canada, we will come back stronger and more united.”

The F1 title race now returns to North America, with the US Grand Prix at Austin on October 17-19 live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – no contract, cancel anytime