Lando Norris delivers staunch self-defence with 'shouldn't be in F1' stance

Lando Norris is adamant that any other F1 driver would have made the same decisions as him in the opening corners of the Singapore Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver put his MCL39 up the inside of Max Verstappen and team-mate Oscar Piastri at Turn 3 on the opening lap at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Having "misjudged" his gap to the Red Bull, Norris clipped the Dutchman, something that not only damaged his own front wing but also sent him into Piastri.

The Australian was furious with the contact and took to team radio to make his anger known. However, the FIA saw nothing egregious in it, and McLaren chose not to intervene as well.

Whilst Norris could not get the better of Verstappen, he was able to settle into third place, where he ultimately finished under the lights of the Southeast Asian city-state after starting from fifth.

Piastri, on the other hand, had to accept fourth, despite being one place higher on the grid. The result saw his F1 drivers' championship advantage cut to 22 points with six rounds to run.

Immediately after the race, Norris stated it was simply "racing", a view he reiterated in the post-grand prix press conference: "I've still not even seen it, so I still need to go and see it," he told media, including RacingNews365.

"I might look at it and think there's something else I could have done, or could have done better.

"Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as what I did, so I think if you fault me for just going up the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap, then yeah, I think you shouldn't be in Formula 1.

"I don't think there was anything wrong that I did. Of course, I misjudged a little bit how close I was to Max, but that's racing. Like, nothing happened otherwise."

'I'm sure I still would have just ended up ahead of Oscar anyway'

Regardless of the contact between the two MCL39s, Norris maintained he would have taken the position anyway, given that he had superior track position by that stage.

"And I am still convinced... I'm sure I still would have just ended up ahead of Oscar anyway, because I was on the inside and he would have had the dirty side of the track on the outside," he added.

"I need to go review it. Of course, I need to look at things and see if there was something I could have done better.

"The last thing I want is to make contact with my team-mate, especially because all I get is then questions from you guys," he quipped, having been asked if he was concerned that he would be asked to hand the place back.

Highlighting the drivers' standings, Norris argued that it would have been too big a "risk" to deliberately engage Piastri in that manner with the 24-year-old still ahead in the title fight.

The British driver said: "I'm the one who can't afford anything compared to him [Piastri], and I would put myself at risk just as much if that kind of thing happens, you know?

"So, yeah, I'll see what I can do better next time. But the FIA obviously thought it was fine, and the team did too, so that's it."