🔗 Share this article Piastri calls Norris overtake 'unjust' as Russell takes the checkered flag The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris racing closely as the British driver overtakes his colleague at the start Friction between title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri escalated significantly as their racing outfit secured the constructors' championship at the Singapore Grand Prix. Norris slid into Piastri while passing him at the first corner at the commencement of the race, leading the Australian to claim it was "unjust" the team did not ask them to swap places. Race Drama Overshadows Constructors' Triumph The controversial moment that is bound to create issues at McLaren occurred when Norris moved aggressively the inside of Piastri after getting away well from P5 on the grid. Norris was surprised by Verstappen slowing more than he anticipated in the apex of Turn Three. Norris made contact with the Red Bull, compromising the McLaren's nose section, and that bounced him side-on into Piastri, whose momentum was disrupted, enabling Norris to gain position into third place. Team Radio Show Increasing Friction Piastri said over the radio: "That didn't feel like teamwork, but sure." Moments later, he continued: "Is it acceptable that Lando just pushing 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 action" in the race because "Lando had to avoid Verstappen" and that they would "review it afterwards". Title Race Impact Piastri's championship lead over Norris was cut to twenty-two points with six races remaining Verstappen has also closed in and is 63 adrift of the championship lead McLaren won their back-to-back constructors' title Race Summary George Russell dominated the race at the front on his way to a dominant win, very much in the manner of his triumph 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 top 10, but the strategy did not pay off and Russell easily held the lead at the beginning before building a comfortable lead. "It was slippery, but that's motorsport. I took the inner line, had a small correction but nothing significant. It was hard but fair competition." - Lando Norris Midfield Battle Mercedes' newcomer Kimi Antonelli secured fifth place, passing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the fifty-fourth lap as the Ferrari lost performance, and then holding off Lewis Hamilton in the final stages. Fernando Alonso delivered a strong performance to take eighth as the best midfield runner. The Spaniard and Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar engaged in close combat in the opening stages, Alonso passing Hadjar into the first corner to take eighth, before the Frenchman regained the position later in the lap, only for Alonso to pass again on lap three.