Liam Lawson Sides with Oscar Piastri in Singapore GP Incident

Liam Lawson has thrown his support behind Oscar Piastri following the Australian's collision with Lando Norris during the Singapore Grand Prix sprint race. Lawson, who benefited from the incident by finishing fifth, was surprised that the FIA stewards decided not to penalize Norris. The contact between Piastri and Norris occurred on the final lap, with Piastri retiring immediately and Norris dropping to eighth place after the race.

The stewards investigated the incident but ultimately concluded that neither McLaren driver was primarily at fault. Lawson, discussing the incident during a media session, noted how Piastri's onboard footage seemed to show him leaving space for Norris, yet still getting hit. "I mean, yeah. Yeah, probably, I would say," Lawson remarked when asked about Norris avoiding a penalty. He compared it to his own racing experiences, noting, "When you watch Oscar’s onboard, I think that’s more clear. He tries to leave space and gets hit."

Lawson capitalized on the situation, securing his best race result of the 2026 season with a fifth-place finish. He out-qualified his teammate, Arvid Lindblad, by four-tenths of a second, starting ninth for Sunday's main race.

Reflecting on his qualifying performance, Lawson admitted some frustration after narrowly missing out on eighth place to Alpine's Pierre Gasly. "Not really," Lawson said about his satisfaction with Q3. "It’s been a very strong weekend so far, though. With where the car’s at, we had a strong quali yesterday, strong quali today. Just Q3 didn’t quite come together, so a little bit frustrating. I just went quite aggressive to try and maximise the lap. But obviously tomorrow is the important day."