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The British racing team and Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this title fight involving Lando Norris & Piastri being decided on the track rather than without resorting to the pit wall with the title run-in kicks off this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath prompts internal strain

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and tense debriefs dealt with, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a fresh start. Norris was likely fully conscious about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. During an intense title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments was lost on no one but the incident that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature to those that defined the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move through an opening then you should not be in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass which resulted in their vehicles making contact.

His comment appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go an available gap which is there you are no longer a true racer” defence he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost in Japan back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he never intended to allow Prost beat him through the first corner while Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate that went unpenalised despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident was a result of him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was forbidden by team protocols for racing and Norris should be instructed to return the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and fairness under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete against each other and to try to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now covers bad luck, tactical calls and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there is the question regarding opinions.

Most crucially for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists as fair and at what point their perspectives might split from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – become a little bit more Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then they’ll start to calculate and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase further. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Viewer desires and title consequences

For spectators, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Not least because for F1 the alternative perception from these events isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves with successful results. They clinched their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and upright commander who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity versus team management

However, with racers competing for the title appealing to the team to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will have roles, but better to let them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair were unequal. Questioned whether he felt the team had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“We've had several difficult situations and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated post-race. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. McLaren have little room for error for last-minute adjustments, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and step back from the conflict.