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The British driver asserts that "any driver on the starting lineup" would have attempted the maneuver that caused fresh controversy between himself and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri during the recent race.

Norris made contact with his teammate on the corner exit of the third corner at Marina Bay after a bump with the leading car caused him to slide.

The collision threatens to disrupt the well-managed harmony that McLaren has managed to maintain between their two drivers through thoughtful management.

Before the race, Norris trailed his teammate by a significant margin in the points table, and narrowed that deficit by only a small amount after finishing third behind winner George Russell and Verstappen, with Piastri following in P4.

Driver Perspectives

The Briton maintained he had done nothing wrong in overtaking his teammate.

"Anyone on the grid would have attempted what I did," he commented. "Should you fault me for going for a big opportunity, you don't belong in Formula 1.

"I was a bit too close to Verstappen, but that's competition. Nothing serious happened, I'm confident I would have finished in front of Piastri regardless because he had the less favorable part of the circuit 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 put myself at risk just as much if that occurred.

"I'll review it but the governing body clearly thought it was fine and the team did, too."

Norris denied he had been overly aggressive with his teammate. "I made contact with Max," he explained, "so I wasn't forceful with my racing partner."

Team Dynamics

Piastri expressed displeasure about the collision. He said over the in-car communication that the squad's choice to do nothing about it was "not fair."

After the race, he was more measured, saying he needed to review the situation before commenting further.

"The primary issue is two cars making contact," he commented. "That's never what we desire, so I'll analyze it in greater detail."

The Australian has previously been the driver to lose out in no fewer than two controversial situations this year.

In Hungary, he was the leading McLaren driver initially but Norris was allowed to use a different strategy to overtake his teammate, a decision that competitors have questioned.

During the Italian Grand Prix, the Australian was instructed to allow his teammate through for P2 after the British driver was held up by a lengthy service. Piastri complained that he believed there had been an understanding that a slow pit stop was just normal competition that had to be accepted, but complied regardless.

Internally, he was not pleased about that circumstance, and he and the squad conducted talks to address the matter.

But when asked after the Singapore Grand Prix whether he had any concerns that his teammate might be getting favoritism, Piastri said: "No."

Was he convinced the squad had been equitable throughout the championship?

"Ultimately, affirmative," he stated. "Could things have been better at specific moments? Certainly, but finally it's a learning process with the whole squad and I'm extremely satisfied that the aims are positive, if that makes sense."

Team Leadership

Team principal Andrea Stella said: "We will conduct detailed analyses, productive conversations and, similar to post-Canada, we'll return stronger and more cohesive."

Stella explained that although the team had analyzed the collision in its immediate aftermath, "this contact is, in reality, a result of different circumstances that occurred between Norris and the Red Bull driver."

He continued: "Oscar made some comments while he was in the cockpit but that's the type of character that we expect from our competitors. They have to express their views, that's what we require of them.

"Our analysis needs to be very detailed, very analytical, it needs to consider the perspective of our both competitors, and then we will form a common opinion upon which we will see whether we can simply validate our first assessment or there's additional factors that we should conclude.

"Whenever we begin our conversations with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise: 'This is difficult'.

"Because this is the single area in which, when you race together, in fact you cannot maintain exactly the same interest for the two drivers, because they seek to achieve their personal goals. This is a foundational principle of the way we race at McLaren.

"We need to be precise, because there's much at risk. That's not just the championship points, but it's also the trust of our competitors in the manner we function as a squad, and this is, if anything, more fundamental than the points themselves."

Championship Achievement

The controversy drew focus from the British team winning the constructors' championship for the second consecutive year.

It is McLaren's 10th constructors' title, moving them ahead of Williams in the all-time list into second place behind record-holders Ferrari, who have claimed it on sixteen occasions since the championship's inception in 1958.

Their victory represents one of the earliest times a team has accomplished this. It equals Red Bull's feat in securing the title with multiple events remaining in last season, although that was a 22-race season compared with twenty-four this year.

McLaren's advantage has diminished as the championship heads into its final stages. That is partly because to the nature of the three most recent circuits not suiting its capabilities, and partly because McLaren ceased the upgrade process earlier, while their rivals still have new parts arriving to their vehicles.

This choice by the team was based on the reality that they were experiencing reduced benefits in improving this vehicle, typical when a design has such an edge at the start of a season, and that they wanted to ensure they were ready for the following season.

The British driver, though, is fully conscious of the scale of his squad's accomplishment, and the impressive transformation they have shown under their team principal and CEO their leader from recent history, when they started the 2023 season near the rear of the grid.

"A second championship is a wonderful achievement," he commented. "Looking at where we were three years ago, we have surpassed every squad in terms of development in a time when it is more challenging to achieve with increased limitations and reduced testing.

"In an era when it should be harder than ever to dominate, that's precisely what the squad has done and provided us, by a significant margin, the best car on the grid.

"It's consistently a very nice thing to mention. It always puts a smile on your face. But we've also performed very well as a squad in terms of drivers, between Oscar and me {pushing each other