Championship leader Piastri was left aggrieved when Norris, his nearest title challenger, caused the two papaya cars to make contact during a first-lap overtake, which ultimately resulted in the gap between them being reduced to 22 points with six rounds remaining.
The stewards didn’t intervene, while McLaren rejected Piastri’s radio request for the team to take action against the Brit, on the grounds that they believed the collision had only occurred as a result of Norris reacting to clipping the rear of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull moments earlier.
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Piastri fumed over the radio that McLaren’s decision was “not fair”, and while he was more level-headed during his post-race interviews, Sky Sports F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick was among many to express a belief that “the gloves are off” for the remainder of the title battle.
“Our review needs to be very detailed, very analytical,” McLaren team principal Stella said after McLaren sealed a second successive Constructors’ Championship title in Singapore.
“It needs to take into account the point of view of our two drivers and then we will form a common opinion based on which we will see whether we can just confirm our initial interpretation or there’s something else that we should conclude.”
Asked whether he was pleased to see Norris making an aggressive move by attacking the gap that opened up at Turn 3 of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Stella replied: “In terms of going for the gap, I think it’s just a bit too much of a coarse approach.
“We need to retain a higher degree of sophistication and detail because there’s so many elements that you need to take into account and we need to make sure that we don’t become too quick in drawing conclusions, we need to be accurate because there’s a lot at stake.
“It’s not only the championship points but it’s also the trust of our drivers in the way we operate as a team and this is, if anything, even more foundational than the points themselves.
“So, we will apply all the accuracy that is required in this case and all the conversations that are needed.”
‘We’ll come back stronger and even more united’
Despite accepting the delicate nature of the situation, Stella remains confident that the team will “come back stronger and even more united” at the United States Grand Prix later this month.
Stella used the example of the only other collision this season between Norris and Piastri – in Canada – to back up his confidence the incident can be overcome.
He said: “We will review the situation together with our drivers, we will have good conversations, like we had, for instance, after Canada.
“This review gave us the opportunity after Canada to come back, we said at the time, even more united and stronger as a team.”
However, there are clear differences between the two incidents, with the more severe collision in Canada being less controversial as Norris immediately took responsibility for it and apologised.
Any tension that may have arisen after the Montreal clash was also potentially diffused by the fact it was Norris who retired and lost ground in the title race as a result of the collision.
Despite those differences, Stella appeared confident that Piastri’s assessment of the incident from outside of the cockpit would be more measured than his initial response.
“Obviously, Oscar made some statements while he was in the car, but that’s the kind of character that we want to have from our drivers,” Stella said. “They have to make their position very clear, that’s what we ask them.
“At the same time, we have to put things in perspective, the perspective of a driver that is in Formula 1 car, with the intensity of it being the first lap, and the perspective that obviously just saw Lando moving on to him, but we know that Lando in reality had a contact with Verstappen and oversteered onto Oscar.
“So we will have good reviews, good conversations, and like after Canada, we’ll come back stronger and even more united.”
F1’s title race now heads back to North America, with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first on October 17-19 live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
