McLaren 'pretty upset' with F1 over 'PR disaster' in Singapore according to insider

The McLaren F1 team is reportedly "pretty upset" with F1 management after their PR disaster at the Singapore Grand Prix. The Papaya team was invited to celebrate their constructors' championship win on the podium after the race, but Oscar Piastri was missing from the proceedings due to his media duties.

The optics of Oscar Piastri missing from the McLaren team celebrations after the Singapore GP hurt the British team, who are considering this a PR disaster. But the situation arose as the team simply joined Lando Norris on the podium after the race, while Piastri was already in the media pen as he had not finished in the top 3.

F1 paddock insider and journalist Nate Saunders has claimed that the McLaren team is "pretty upset" at F1 management for not showcasing any flexibility and allowing Piastri onto the podium for the celebrations.

"Not having the flexibility, either from F1’s side or McLaren’s side, to let Piastri up there was strange. They were pretty upset with how it looked from a PR perspective. They realised immediately what it would look like," Saunders said on ESPN's Unlapped podcast. "It’s a classic thing isn’t it? As much as they did have that celebration in the paddock afterwards, no one saw that," he added.

McLaren did another celebration in front of the garage afterwards, which also included Piastri. But as Saunders mentioned, not many fans saw this, as it was after coverage for the race ended.

This week hasn't been great off the track for the Woking-based team either, with numerous revelations being made during Alex Palou's testimony against them and Zak Brown on Friday. This trial can be considered as yet another PR disaster for the team.

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Oscar Piastri still the favorite to win the drivers' championship amid McLaren's slump, claims Saunders

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the Singapore Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Nate Saunders has also claimed that Oscar Piastri is still the favorite "by far" to win the drivers' championship as he believes his 22 points gap to McLaren teammate Lando Norris is "enormous".

Saunders has shared an interesting theory suggesting that since the Papaya team isn't necessarily achieving one-two finishes at every race now, Norris will have fewer opportunities to gain as many as seven points on his teammate.

"I think Piastri is still by far the favorite. We've been talking about this sixty-something point gap that Verstappen has, but 22 points [to Norris] is still an enormous lead at this point," said Saunders, on the aforementioned podcast. "Especially since the points on offer for McLaren now aren't seven for finishing first vs second. I think it's going to be a lot smaller in what they're going to be able to do," he added.

But thanks to Piastri's disastrous weekend in Baku, followed by another relatively quiet one at the Singapore GP, his lead over Norris has come under a race win now. This means that the Aussie driver cannot afford even one DNF at the moment, with both his teammate and even Verstappen in the hunt going into the final five rounds of the season.

Edited by Mitali