Oscar Piastri delivers McLaren verdict after 'serious' Lando Norris rule breach

Oscar Piastri is happy with the way in which McLaren has dealt with Lando Norris crashing into him in the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint.

On the penultimate lap at Marina Bay, Norris attempted to move up the inside of Piastri for fourth place, but misjudged the move and sent the Australian spinning into the barriers and out of the race, whilst Norris himself recovered to eighth place and picked up one point.

In total, McLaren lost seven points in the collision, which could prove crucial in the constructors' championship as the team is now just seven ahead of a resurgent Red Bull in the fight for third.

On the Saturday, team principal Andrea Stella laid out the seriousness with which he was treating the collision, with Norris initially taking a defiant stance, before this cooled after the race itself on Sunday. 

After further talks and discussions between the drivers, Stella, and CEO Zak Brown, Piastri has declared himself satisfied with how the issue has been handled following the breach of so-called 'Papaya Rules.'

"I've been happy with how things have been dealt with," Piastri told media, including RacingNews365.

"I think the team, Zak and Andrea, have handled things the way they should have been, so that's been fine. 

"Yes, I mean, it's been a challenging year for us, definitely. I think in the middle of the season we felt like we'd gained some momentum and potentially we were back to being able to fight for wins and regular podiums. 

"But, yes, that's often the way in Formula 1. You think you're there again, and you've got a few teams around you to pull you down a few pegs. 

"Hopefully we can find a bit more performance in the rest of the season. But, yes, I think in terms of going back to Singapore, I think it was dealt with appropriately, and we're ready to go racing."

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Norris' response

As for Norris himself, he also declared that as far as he was concerned, the matter was "settled."

"I'm just fully focused on the weekend now. It's been settled," he said.

"Things have always been clear. It's just that I messed up, and I admitted already last time that I made a mistake. Things have always been settled. 

"It's clear in my head what needs to be done, what can and cannot be done. Sometimes I make mistakes, so that's all it has been. 

"Of course, there's been plenty of talk since then between everyone, of course, especially between Andrea, Zak and myself, and us as a group. 

"But things have always been clear. Nothing really needed to be cleared up. It wasn't like I wasn't aware of what it was. It's just that I messed up, and I apologise for that."