🔗 Share this article Piastri describes Norris move 'unjust' as Russell claims victory The team cars of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris racing closely as the British driver gets ahead his team-mate at the beginning Friction between championship competitors Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri escalated significantly as their McLaren team secured the team title at the Singapore Grand Prix. Norris slid into Piastri while overtaking at the initial turn at the commencement of the race, prompting the driver from Australia to state it was "unjust" the team did not ask them to reverse positions. On-track Incident Mars Constructors' Triumph The controversial moment that is likely to cause problems at McLaren came as Norris dived down the inner line of Piastri after getting away well from fifth on the grid. Norris was surprised by Verstappen slowing more than he expected in the apex of Turn Three. Norris touched the Red Bull, damaging the McLaren's front wing endplate, and that caused him to deflect sideways into Piastri, whose pace was disrupted, allowing Norris to move ahead into P3. Driver Communications Reveal Growing Tension Piastri said over the radio: "That wasn't very team-like, but sure." Moments later, he continued: "Is it acceptable that Lando just barging me out of the way?" His engineer responded that the team were "reviewing the situation", before following up to tell Piastri that they would take "no immediate measures" in the race because "Lando had to avoid Verstappen" and that they would "review it afterwards". Championship Implications Piastri's points advantage over Norris was reduced to 22 points with half a dozen events remaining Verstappen has also gained ground and is 63 adrift of the lead McLaren won their back-to-back team championship Event Overview George Russell dominated the race at the front on his way to a dominant win, very much in the manner of his victory in Canada back in June. Verstappen opted to start the race on soft tyres rather than the medium compound on most other cars in the leading group, but the strategy did not prove successful and Russell comfortably maintained the first position at the start before building a comfortable lead. "The track conditions were challenging, but that's motorsport. I took the inner line, had a small correction but nothing significant. It was good racing." - Lando Norris Midfield Battle Mercedes' newcomer Kimi Antonelli took P5, passing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on lap 54 as the Ferrari lost performance, and then holding off Lewis Hamilton in the final stages. Fernando Alonso drove an excellent race to take P8 as the top performer outside the leading teams. The Spaniard and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar fought a brief battle in the opening stages, Alonso overtaking Hadjar into the first corner to take P8, before the driver from France got him back later in the lap, only for Alonso to pass again on lap three.