McLaren's 'funny situation': Norris' repercussions cost him pole?

As a backlash of the contact experienced by both papaya drivers, Norris and Oscar Piastri, it was disclosed that the responsibility for the contact had been assigned to the British driver, and as such, his actions would carry sporting repercussions. What those would has not yet been clarified.

Palmer, though, speaking on F1TV's broadcast of the sprint qualifying, wondered if track evolution might be the sporting detail that will make McLaren feel justice has been served following the infamous clash.

He said: "One final thing I did think is we're speaking about consequences of Norris' contact with Piastri in Singapore and the thought was that maybe it's about Lando going earlier than Oscar in qualifying.

If indeed this was McLaren's way to restore the order in its ranks, then the British analyst even goes as far as saying that it might have cost them sprint pole.

He added: "But that's allowed Max to have the track evolution on Lando even more. And when you're talking hundreds, they've actually lost out on a potential pole by sending Lando really early.

Though he did stress that this might not be the case at all, he left the door open to see if the event repeated itself in qualifying for the Grand Prix.

"Maybe it's chance. Maybe it's not that at all. We'll see tomorrow when qualifying happens," Palmer concluded.

Weighing in on the championship situation double world champion Fernando Alonso seemed to agree with Red Bull Racing chief advisor Dr Helmut Marko, saying that Max Verstappen will need help from McLaren in order to win the Drivers' Championship.

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