Brundle's daring McLaren advice after dynamic altering clash

At the start of the Singapore Grand Prix, Norris and Piastri found themselves fighting for P3, navigating the first trio of corners where the field bunches up increasing the possibilities of contact exponentially.

As Norris went deep into Turn 3 and hit Max Verstappen's rear, his McLaren car reacted with a sudden burst of oversteer, which the Briton managed to control, but not without crashing into his teammate's side.

Following the crash an incensed Piastri went on the radio to demand that McLaren swapped the cars back to the previous order. McLaren's refusal made the Australian driver even more livid.

In his usual post-race column Brundle notes that this was the way it was always going to go down between both teammates, despite McLaren's attempts to maintain things as balanced and as fair as possible in Piastri's and Norris' title battle.

He wrote: "Piastri appealed to the team to sort that out given the 'no contact' rules between them, which they declined. It would have been a feisty post-race team debrief, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the dynamics between the two McLaren drivers will irrevocably change going forward. It was just a matter of time."

If such is the case, Brundle advises McLaren team principal and CEO, Andrea Stella and Zak Brown respectively, to let them "duke it out."

The former F1 driver is of the idea that the threats of potential penalties, Max Verstappen closing in on the title fight and 2026 looming in the distance, would suffice in keeping both Piastri and Norris clean and honest.

He said: "Perhaps McLaren should now just let their two drivers duke it out, gloves off, between themselves with zero interference.

"Any nuclear fallout will be tempered by the need to finish races, score points, avoid FIA in-race penalties, avoid Verstappen catching the pair of them, and running out of the latest specification of parts as the team focuses on 2026," he concluded.

After the crash between both drivers and the heated exchange in the radio, theories that pointed to a supposed split in the team emerged, alluding to Piastri cutting Brown's radio communication off mid sentence, or to the Australian driver making the conscious decision to skip McLaren's Constructors' championship win celebrations around the podium area, where Norris found himself celebrating his P3 finish.

However, GPblog understands that neither of these allegations are true. What is true, though, is the adamant stance Norris took regarding the inside and his thoughts on those who faulted him for the incident.

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