Oscar Piastri in his “villain arc”? Muted team radio prompts frenzy

F1 fans think Oscar Piastri is in his “villain arc” after a post-race team radio exchange prompted intrigue on social media. 

Piastri was left angry at title rival and McLaren teammate Lando Norris for barging him out of the way at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix, before protesting his team’s decision not to reverse positions.

Norris claimed third place on the podium to secure McLaren the constructors’ championship in Singapore, while Piastri was forced to settle with a frustrated fourth place.

The key to the result was Norris’s punchy move on Piastri at Turn 3, with the Briton tapping the rear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen before sliding into the side of his teammate’s car.

Norris’s driving prompted Piastri to fume over team radio: “So are we cool with Lando just barging me out of the way?” The Australian later complained it was “not fair” that McLaren failed to take action. 

Piastri was evidently still annoyed after the race as he appeared to disconnect the radio while McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown was speaking to him.

Whether or not this was intentional remains unclear, but fans immediately took to social media to suggest that we are about to see a different side to the usually-cool Piastri as the tension between the McLaren drivers reached new heights.

"I'm ready for the evil Piastri era,” one fan noted, while another claimed: "Finally Oscar’s villain arc is complete.”

Fans also pointed to the fact that Piastri was absent from McLaren’s championship celebrations on the podium. This was because he was conducting his post-race media duties in the TV pen. 

However, Piastri did later join his McLaren teammates and Norris for the traditional post-race photograph and champagne-spraying at the back of the garage.

McLaren attempt to defuse the drama

Until this point, relations between Piastri and Norris had been harmonious.

But what happened in Singapore has raised the stakes amid their intra-team battle for the drivers’ crown, with Piastri seeing his championship lead cut down to 22 points with six races remaining.

McLaren are set to review the incident internally before the United States Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

Team principal Andrea Stella downplayed the clash, saying: "We will have good reviews, good conversations and, like after Canada, we'll come back stronger and even more united.

"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. They have to make their position very clear, that's what we ask them.

"Our review needs to be very detailed, very analytical, 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.

"Every time we start our conversations with the drivers, we always remind ourselves, as a premise: 'This is hard’.

"Because this is the only matter in which, when you race together as a team, actually you can't have exactly the same interest for the two drivers, because they want to pursue their aspiration. This is a foundational principle of the way we were racing at McLaren.

"We need to be accurate, because there's a lot at stake. That'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."