Lando Norris defends first lap Singapore GP move against Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris addressed the nail-biting first lap move on his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the Singapore Grand Prix

McLaren's Lando Norris defended his bold first lap lunge during the Singapore Grand Prix after he clipped his team-mate Oscar Piastri while taking third position.

After starting the race from fifth on the grid, Norris took the chance to gain two positions at the start. He tapped the back of Max Verstappen into Turn 3 and, as a result, collided with his team-mate. While the Australian driver made his feelings known to the team, McLaren opted not to intervene as the stewards deemed that no further action was required.

"It was slippery. It was still wet in a lot of places. But it's racing. I put it on the inside, I had a small correction, but nothing more than that," Norris explained to Jenson Button after the race.

"It was good racing. I wish there was a few more overtaking opportunities today, but I felt like I did everything I could today. And yeah, I'm happy with that."

Speaking about the race in general, Norris added: "Not too bad [after being ill earlier in the weekend]. I could go again! It was a tough race. Max didn't make any mistakes.

"Whether I was feeling good or not, I gave it my all today and got close. A few chances were side by side and some good little bits of battling. But yeah, like I said, just too difficult to overtake, which is a shame because the pace was very strong today.

"And I would have loved to have tried to catch George and given him a little bit more pressure, you know. So I'm happy with today. I got forward two positions. We won as a team, the constructors once again. So I'm most happy about that."

Norris's and Piastri's third and fourth-place finishes secured the constructors' title for McLaren with six race weekends remaining in the season.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Andrea Stella, McLaren, Zak Brown, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

"But I'm happy with today. I got forward two positions, we won as a team the constructors' once again, so I'm happy about that," Norris concluded.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown explained to Button following the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit that the lap one moment was a "nail-biter".

"They have driven brilliantly all season. You can't win the constructors' without two awesome racing drivers," the American explained. "As you can see, we are letting them race. That was a bit more of a nail-biter there, but they race hard, they race clean, they race to win.

"A lot of racing to go and hopefully a lot more victories for both of them."