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McLaren and F1 would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle involving Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved through on-track action and without reference to the pit wall as the title run-in kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix fallout prompts internal strain

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and tense post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was almost certainly fully conscious of the historical context regarding his retort to his aggrieved teammate during the previous race weekend. During an intense title fight with the Australian, his reference to a famous Senna most famous sentiments was lost on no one but the incident that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

“If you fault me for just going on the inside through an opening then you should not be in Formula One,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

His comment appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go for a gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with Alain Prost in Japan in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent to allow Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris did try to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty despite the minor contact he had with his McLaren teammate during the pass. That itself stemmed from him clipping the car of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal to the team to step in in their favor.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now covers bad luck, strategy and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Most crucially for the championship, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and at what point their perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when their friendly rapport among them may – finally – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come to a situation where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes team principal Wolff post-race. “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 championship implications

For spectators, during this dual battle, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from these events is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for their interests and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement overshadowed by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they possess a moral and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Racing purity versus team management

However, with racers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions appears unsightly. Their contest should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will have roles, but better to let them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be pored over by the squad to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The examination will intensify and each time it happens it is in danger of potentially making a difference that could be critical. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the shadow of concern about bias also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship endlessly debated over perceived that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri said he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about various aspects,” he said after Singapore. “But ultimately it's educational with the whole team.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal room for error to do their cramming, so it may be better to just stop analyzing and step back from the conflict.