apparently cutting his radio feed just as the boss was congratulating him<\/a> on his role in winning the team the constructors championship.<\/p>\nAnd then there were scenes of McLaren team members, including Brown and principal Andrea Stella, partying on the podium in celebration of the title victory while Piastri languished despondently downstairs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s quite the rap sheet.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also all greatly exaggerated.<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren and Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren celebrate with their team after winning the Constructors Championship.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
EXHIBIT A: PIASTRI\u2019S TEAM-LIKE RESPONSE TO \u2018NOT VERY TEAM-LIKE\u2019 BEHAVIOUR<\/p>\n
While the incident itself was certainly contentious, only so much should be read into Piastri\u2019s radio complaints in its immediate aftermath.<\/p>\n
In fact McLaren encourages that sort of verbose behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of character that we want to have from our drivers,\u201d Stella said in Singapore. \u201cThey have to make their position very clear. That\u2019s what we ask them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He first made the point at the British Grand Prix earlier this year, when Piastri asked the team whether, if it disagreed with his contentious safety car penalty, he should be swapped back into the lead ahead of Norris.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always tell our drivers, \u2018Don\u2019t leave anything in the back of your mind. Anything, throw it out. Say what you think\u2019,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n
He explained that having the drivers speak openly helped the team to formulate it approach to complex scenarios.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case [in Silverstone], Oscar\u2019s comment was to highlight a situation that we didn\u2019t discuss before,\u201d he said. \u201cWe sort of did not discuss that before, and we don\u2019t want to surprise our drivers with situations that we didn\u2019t discuss before.\u201d<\/p>\n
By not surprising his drivers, he hopes he can avoid a quiet build-up of bile that might suddenly turn the team toxic.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s complaints should be seen in this context \u2014 as him being part of the team rather than separating himself from it.<\/p>\n
McLaren clash on the way to Constructors | 01:06<\/p>\n
EXHIBIT B: THE BOSS SNUB<\/p>\n
Social media was taken by storm shortly after the race with the emergence of an on-board video of Piastri\u2019s cooldown lap appearing to show him silently rebuking his CEO.<\/p>\n
In the video Piastri is shown pulling into pit lane when Brown\u2019s voice crackles into life over radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cOscar, back-to-back champions,\u201d Brown said. \u201cGood race. Tough race. Thank you \u2014\u201c<\/p>\n
Piastri unplugs his steering wheel, appearing to icily sever communication.<\/p>\n
Except that\u2019s not what happened.<\/p>\n
What was captured was an awkward coincidence of events.<\/p>\n
Piastri was told to kill his engine immediately upon parking and then to fully shut down the car five seconds after that.<\/p>\n
It meant his radio was switched off before Brown had even started talking.<\/p>\n
In any case, even in the social media video Brown\u2019s message is cut off after Piastri removes his steering wheel. The two events are not related.<\/p>\n
Brown appearing to get cut off mid-sentence was presumably down to F1 television cutting its own connection to Piastri\u2019s radio link given the car had been switched off.<\/p>\n
It had nothing to do with Piastri\u2019s actions. F1\u2019s broadcast team doesn\u2019t access radio from the car end; it can access all radio channels regardless of whether one end has been switched off.<\/p>\n
EXHIBIT C: THE CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION<\/p>\n
It would be similarly risky to read anything into those compelling pictures of Piastri walking past a television feed showing his team celebrating the constructors championship on the podium.<\/p>\n
The reason Piastri remained in the paddock during that time is a messy intersection of regulations and television imperative.<\/p>\n
The FIA doesn\u2019t regulate only the race; the events immediately afterwards are also conducted per the rules.<\/p>\n
For example, the procedure for a driver who finishes on the podium is highly choreographed: they must park in parc ferm\u00e9 beneath the podium, get weighed, answer interview questions for television, enter the green room, celebrate on the podium and then proceed to the post-race press conference.<\/p>\n
Everything from the number of drink bottles to the air conditioner settings are stipulated by the regulations.<\/p>\n
Drivers who don\u2019t finish on the podium are mandated to attend the television pen \u2014 where broadcast outlets take it on turns to ask questions \u2014 and then the written media zone, where print journalists then do the same.<\/p>\n
Piastri, therefore, was required by the rules to be in the media pen when Norris was on the podium.<\/p>\n
Oscar GRILLS McLaren after Norris clash | 00:58<\/p>\n
That meant that when Formula 1 \u2014 separate from the FIA \u2014 decided to invite the McLaren team onto the podium for an impromptu championship celebration as a TV spectacle, there was simply no way Piastri was able to join his teammates.<\/p>\n
In fact several other team members were also caught out by the suddenness of Formula 1\u2019s decision to give McLaren this impromptu podium celebration \u2014 the official post-race team photo shows many more people celebrating in front of the garage later in the evening, including Piastri.<\/p>\n
WHY WOULD PIASTRI LEAVE?<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean Piastri can\u2019t be disappointed in the way Singapore played out, but it does emphasise that describing that race as grounds for him to consider quitting is ludicrous.<\/p>\n
Why, for example, would he contemplate walking out on a team that\u2019s offering him the fastest car on the grid? That\u2019s won two constructors championships on the bounce, the latest at breakneck speed? That\u2019s in the ascendancy and likely to be competing at the front for years to come?<\/p>\n
Consider that in the context of some of the teams he\u2019s been linked to.<\/p>\n
Ferrari is in such dire form that Charles Leclerc is beginning to sound alarm bells about 2026, with this season on track to be the team\u2019s first winless campaign since 2021.<\/p>\n
Red Bull Racing has rebounded from its mid-season woes, but moving there would mean either playing number two to Verstappen or joining a team that Verstappen has quit due to a lack of confidence.<\/p>\n
Mercedes, by extension, will have an opening for a lead driver only if it fails to convince Verstappen to join and simultaneously loses George Russell.<\/p>\n
The future of Aston Martin\u2019s driver line-up is unclear, but so too is the team\u2019s prospects of success. On paper it\u2019s on the right trajectory, but grands prix aren\u2019t won on a balance sheet.<\/p>\n
There would be no other actual or aspiring grandee contenders for his signature.<\/p>\n
And while, yes, Mark Webber and rest of Piastri\u2019s management team correctly divined that McLaren, then a lower midfield team, was worth a shot for 2023, they were coming from the lacklustre Alpine team.<\/p>\n
Today Piastri is in a position of strength at a powerful and growing team as the championship leader.<\/p>\n
While their situations are not entirely alike, Daniel Ricciardo is a sort of cautionary tale here. Ricciardo left established powerhouse \u2014 albeit one that had fallen out of championship contention \u2014 to move down the grid, to Renault and then to, ironically, McLaren. It was a series of decisions that culminated in the end of his career.<\/p>\n
Just because a driver has the capital to play the market doesn\u2019t always mean they should.<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: The McLaren team celebrate winning the 2025 F1 World Constructors Championship on the podium.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
ONLY ONE WAY OUT<\/p>\n
McLaren could perhaps take it as a compliment that so many people have immediately jumped to the conclusion that great tension exists between team and driver after the controversies of Singapore.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s highly unusual for there not to have been a blow up between teammates by this point, and credit must go to McLaren management, in particular team boss Stella, for steering the ship so deep into the season without a mutiny.<\/p>\n
Despite the conclusions drawn by some, McLaren\u2019s attempts to keep the title fight fair are genuine, even if they\u2019ve proved contentious.<\/p>\n
Stella didn\u2019t shy away from the fact when speaking to media on Sunday in Singapore, when he promised a review into the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur review needs to be very detailed, very analytical,\u201d he said. \u201cIt needs to take into account the point of view of our two drivers, and then we will form a common opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be accurate, because there\u2019s a lot at stake, and the lot at stake is not only the championship points but also the trust of our drivers in the way we operate as a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is, if anything, even more foundational than the points themselves. We will apply all the accuracy that is required in this case and all the conversations that are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stella credited the driver for buying into the concept, even if it\u2019s been difficult at times.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time we start our conversations with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise, that this is hard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been just great individuals, great contributors, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s been successful so far, and definitely we will work hard to make sure this is true for the remainder of the season and the years ahead in which we will keep on racing with Lando and Oscar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, those who see bias based on Norris and McLaren sharing British nationality would do well to remember that McLaren Racing is owned by Bahraini and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds and has an American CEO and Italian team principal \u2014 not exactly flag-waving Britons.<\/p>\n
And for what it\u2019s worth, Piastri agreed even in the heated aftermath of Singapore that McLaren was doing a generally good job at keeping things fair, even if he retained reservations about the events of that race.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould things have been better at certain points? Yes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut ultimately it\u2019s a learning process with the whole team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very, very happy that the intentions are very well meaning, so I have absolutely no concerns about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
All that said, Piastri will leave McLaren eventually, either for another team or to one day retire. No relationship lasts forever.<\/p>\n
But this isn\u2019t the time to contemplate it.<\/p>\n
A driver doesn\u2019t simply leave a situation like McLaren. That\u2019s not how Formula 1 works.<\/p>\n
A driver only quits a team like McLaren if they\u2019re forced to \u2014 either because there\u2019s a catastrophic breakdown in their relationship with the team or because they\u2019re so comprehensively beaten by their teammate that their future becomes untenable.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the situation Piastri faces, as does Norris. Realistically there\u2019s no easy exit door. <\/p>\n
Supremacy is the only way to secure a place in the team. Defeat \u2014 not just this season but subsequently \u2014 will leave the other considering their options.<\/p>\n
This is a long-term game, and we\u2019re still so far from knowing the winner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You know what they say about opinions. Everyone has one. There\u2019s certainly been no shortage of them since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,131066,9199,25610,13273,1724,131081,64,63,689,131065,131078,131082,131060,18257,22777,94247,13275,2055,82615,21753,131063,131085,59977,11301,2057,131067,131068,817,68432,813,816,131059,3875,2105,14211,939,131075,131079,99280,2328,131074,1737,99277,131077,131086,859,825,131064,677,131071,131058,131076,101339,131070,121635,121617,131069,30966,36830,24554,942,88562,102394,1314,131062,2812,3595,81241,85,131073,64514,89002,131080,131057,131061,131084,21760,131072,12000,131083],"class_list":["post-213741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-air-conditioner-settings","tag-alarm-bells","tag-alternative-strategy","tag-andrea-stella","tag-asia","tag-aspiring-grandee-contenders","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-balance-sheet","tag-british-nationality","tag-car-end","tag-championship-celebration","tag-championship-contention","tag-championship-leader","tag-championship-points","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-constructors-championship","tag-constructors-championships","tag-contentious-safety-car","tag-cooldown-lap-appearing","tag-drink-bottles","tag-driver-line-up","tag-eastern-europe","tag-europe","tag-exhibit-b","tag-exhibit-c","tag-f1","tag-football-league-championship","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-friction-point","tag-george-russell","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grands-prix","tag-hungary","tag-impromptu-championship-celebration","tag-impromptu-podium-celebration","tag-italian-team-principal","tag-italy","tag-keeping-things","tag-lando-norris","tag-learning-process","tag-lower-midfield-team","tag-management-team","tag-mark-webber","tag-max-verstappen","tag-media-pen","tag-oceania","tag-official-post-race-team","tag-playing-number","tag-polarised-fans-spoiling","tag-post-race-press-conference","tag-post-race-team-photo","tag-pretty-shit-job","tag-racing-rules","tag-radio-channels","tag-ralf-schumacher","tag-rap-sheet","tag-safety-car-penalty","tag-singapore","tag-slow-pit-stop","tag-so-called-papaya-rules","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-video","tag-south-eastern-asia","tag-southern-europe","tag-sovereign-wealth-funds","tag-sports","tag-steering-wheel","tag-team-members","tag-team-order","tag-team-toxic","tag-television-feed","tag-television-imperative","tag-television-pen","tag-title-fight","tag-title-victory","tag-western-asia","tag-written-media-zone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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