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McLaren along with F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this title fight between Norris and Piastri being decided through on-track action rather than without resorting to team orders as the championship finale kicks off this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to internal strain

After the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses concluded, McLaren is aiming for a reset. Norris was likely more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight with the Australian, that Norris invoked a famous Senna well-known quotes was lost on no one yet the occurrence which triggered his statement was of an entirely different nature to those that defined the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside through an opening then you should not be in F1,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to pass that led to the cars colliding.

His comment appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “If you no longer go an available gap that exists you are no longer a true racer” justification he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with the French champion at Suzuka in 1990, securing him the title.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

While the spirit remains comparable, the wording is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he never intended of letting Prost to defeat him through the first corner whereas Norris did try to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he had with his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident stemmed from him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; the implication being their collision was verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask the squad to step in in their favor.

Squad management and fairness under scrutiny

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and to try to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines just or unjust – under these conditions, now covers misfortune, tactical calls and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there is the question of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists on fairness and at what point their perspectives might split from the team's stance. Which is when the amicable relationship among them could eventually – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It will reach a point where minor points count,” said Mercedes boss Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I guess aggression will increase a bit more. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and championship implications

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

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for their interests with successful results. They secured their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement diminished by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and upright commander who truly aims to do the right thing.

Racing purity versus team management

However, with racers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall for resolutions appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Chance and fate will play their part, but better to let them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be pored over by the team to determine if intervention is needed and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it risks potentially making a difference that could be critical. Previously, after the team made for position swaps in Italy because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

Nobody desires to see a title constantly disputed over perceived that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he felt the team had managed to do right toward both racers, Piastri said he believed they had, but noted it's a developing process.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” 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 for last-minute adjustments, so it may be better now to simply stop analyzing and withdraw from the conflict.