Piastri delivers McLaren title warning after Verstappen surprise

Oscar Piastri has warned McLaren that it cannot take its lead in the F1 constructors' championship "for granted". 

McLaren extended its advantage over Red Bull to 41 points after the Singapore Grand Prix in which Lando Norris claimed victory and Piastri finished third. 

Norris was victorious by 21 seconds, with reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen in a papaya sandwich in second. 

The Woking-based team is currently on a tremendous run, although was expected to score more points than it did over Red Bull in Singapore. 

Verstappen finishing second came as a surprise and was a further sign - if needed - of how quickly things can change in F1. 

"Clearly in the constructors’ the trajectory has been in the right direction for a long time now," said Piastri. 

"We've clearly got a quick car underneath us. We've got both of us scoring big points consistently. 

"So I feel like we're doing a good job as a team but you can never take for granted how quickly things can turn around."

Piastri learns 'good lessons'

Piastri drove well to finish on the podium at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after starting fifth, notably as the Australian had to pass both Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. 

In clean air, the 23-year-old had pace but after slotting into third was too far adrift of Verstappen to make it a McLaren one-two.

Due to his disappointing qualifying, Piastri thought third position was the best possible result he could have achieved. 

"Saturday wasn't ideal, but in the race, the aim was to get onto the podium," he said. 

"And I think losing so much time behind the Mercedes in the first stint meant that that was definitely the most we could have done. Of course, I'd prefer to be in the middle [as the winner]. But I think it was a good damage-limitation day. 

"Even through the weekend, I was struggling quite a lot in practice and felt like I made a good step into qualifying. I didn't execute as well as I needed to, but I feel like I learned a lot through the weekend. 

"So even if the end result wasn't exactly what I hoped, we've did a good job of maximising the points, especially for the team.

"It's a massive points haul for us, and I feel like I learned some good lessons for next year as well. All in all, reasonably happy."