Explained: Why Oscar Piastri was absent from McLaren's championship celebrations on the podium

A host of McLaren team members, along with Lando Norris, were spotted at the team's constructors' championship celebrations on the Singapore GP podium, except for the drivers' championship leader, Oscar Piastri. This led the paddock to go into a frenzy of speculation about what could have been the reason for the Aussie's absence while Norris was on top of the podium. But the reason was not as controversial as it seemed to many.

McLaren needed to have at least one of its drivers on the podium to ensure itself the constructors' title over the current runner-up, Mercedes. Though George Russell won the race for Mercedes, it remained inconsequential in the context of McLaren's constructors' championship pursuit as Norris and Piastri finished third and fourth, respectively.

This led to an impulsively arranged celebration on the podium for the Woking-based squad, where F1 had thought about the team members getting the spotlight and celebrating the success. There, Norris was not even planned to be, but as the papaya members crossed paths with the podium finishers on their way to the rostrum, they took over their driver to celebrate the feat.

As to why Oscar Piastri wasn't there, he was busy in the media pen and couldn't be escorted to the podium owing to the vast distance between the sections of the track. This led to the podium celebrations taking place without the Aussie, with Norris' presence being a spontaneous decision that fellow McLaren crew members took.

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Will things remain cool between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris?

Lando Norris (L) and Oscar Piastri (R) celebrating McLaren's constructors' championship victory after the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore - Source: Getty

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri came to blows for the second time this year. Moreover, this contact was again initiated by the Briton, but he was let off by McLaren owing to his contact with Max Verstappen.

This seemingly showed that the pair could race each other hard, and the team might overlook slight contact between the two. Having been dealt with such cards, Piastri was left furious during the Singapore GP, as he made his frustration with Norris' driving pretty clear over the radio.

Ahead of the F1 paddock returning to racing after the summer break, Piastri had talked about his relationship with Norris and had asserted that the desire to finish ahead of the other would not spill off onto the track (via F1's official website):

"There's definitely kind of two sides to it but if there's tension in wanting to beat each other, it never spills out off the track, which I think is a nice thing. It is an interesting dynamic in how it kind of changes and flows. We've always gotten on well, so I don't think that'll change."

But his recent contact with Lando Norris would spool up some doubts in Oscar Piastri's camp, which might have seemingly opened a Pandora's box for McLaren.

This would make the team's debrief crucial in determining how the relationship between the papaya duo goes on into the final phase of the 2025 season.