Oscar Piastri accepts Lewis Hamilton's advice to defy McLaren team orders in the future

Oscar Piastri shared that he'll take Lewis Hamilton's advice from before the Singapore GP to not follow McLaren's team orders anymore. On media day (Thursday, October 2) before the Singapore Grand Prix, the seven-time F1 champion was asked by reporters if he had any advice for the championship leader, Piastri.

"Don't give back any more positions," Hamilton said.

He was referring to McLaren's controversial driver swap at the Italian Grand Prix in early September. The team had ordered Piastri to give P2 back to teammate Lando Norris after the Briton, who was running ahead the whole race, had an unusually slow pitstop, which led to him losing the place to his teammate. But because McLaren had promised Norris that he wouldn't be undercut, the decision to swap was made.

Unfortunately, McLaren had another controversy at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday (October 5). Lando Norris bumped into Oscar Piastri on the opening lap to secure P3. The Aussie driver called the move "not team-like," and when McLaren took no action about it, he termed it "not fair."

Brazilian reporter Julianne Cerasoli shared on Sunday what Piastri said in response to Lewis Hamilton's advice from earlier in the week. However, she didn't mention whether Piastri's response came before or after McLaren's Singapore GP fiasco.

"He's been in that position many times, I accept the advice," the 24-year-old said with a smile when presented with Hamilton's message.

Lando Norris finished on the podium at the Marina Bay Circuit, while Oscar Piastri finished behind him in P4. Their combined result was enough to win McLaren the 2025 F1 constructors' championship over the current runner-up, Mercedes.

Lando Norris gives 'you shouldn't be in F1' verdict when asked about Oscar Piastri incident in Singapore

Lando Norris with Oscar Piastri at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Oscar Piastri was left upset with McLaren's decision not to reprimand Lando Norris for their lap 1 incident. The team informed Piastri that Norris was trying not to collide with Max Verstappen ahead of them, which caused him to slide into his teammate beside.

In reply to that explanation via team radio on lap 6, the drivers' championship leader said:

"Mate, that's not fair. I'm sorry, that's not fair. If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, then that's a pretty **** good job avoiding."

When Norris was asked about the incident in the post-race FIA press conference, the Briton said:

"I’ve still not even seen it. I still need to go in and see it. I might look at it and think there’s something else I could have done or done better. Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as I did. So I think if you fault me for just going on the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap, then, yeah, I think you shouldn’t be in Formula 1."

"So, you know, I don’t think there was anything wrong that I did. Of course, I misjudged a little bit how close I was to Max, but that’s racing. Nothing happened otherwise, and I’m sure I still would have ended up ahead of Oscar anyway because I was on the inside and he would have had the dirty side of the track on the outside," Norris added.

Oscar Piastri continues to lead the drivers' championship with six races remaining in the season. However, Norris reduced the gap between them from 25 to 22 points after the Singapore GP podium.

Edited by Yash Kotak