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McLaren and Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle between Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved through on-track action and without resorting to the pit wall with the championship finale begins at the Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts internal strain

With the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and stressful post-race analyses dealt with, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. Norris was likely more than aware of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. During an intense championship duel with the Australian, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments was lost on no one but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's iconic battles.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move of a big gap then you should not be in Formula One,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to pass that led to the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “Should you stop attempting for a gap that exists then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with Alain Prost at Suzuka back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost beat him at turn one whereas Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he had with his McLaren teammate as he went through. This incident stemmed from him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris should be instructed to return the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to allow their racers compete one another and to try to maintain strict fairness. Aside from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now includes bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there is the question of perception.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come a point where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I guess aggression will increase a bit more. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For spectators, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as a track duel instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the alternative perception from these events is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren is taking appropriate choices for their interests with successful results. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity against squad control

Yet having drivers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Chance and fate will have roles, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The examination will intensify with every occurrence it risks potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to see a title constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he felt the team had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri said that they did, but noted it's a developing process.

“We've had several difficult situations and we discussed various aspects,” he said after Singapore. “But ultimately it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, so it may be better now to simply stop analyzing and withdraw from the fray.