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McLaren along with Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle between Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided on the track and without reference to team orders with the title run-in kicks off at the Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix fallout leads to internal strain

With the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and tense post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. Norris was almost certainly more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna well-known quotes did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move of a big gap then you should not be in F1,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to overtake that led to their vehicles making contact.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “Should you stop attempting for a gap which is there then you cease to be a true racer” defence he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with Alain Prost in Japan in 1990, securing him the title.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he had no intent to allow Prost beat him at turn one whereas Norris did try to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he had with his team colleague as he went through. That itself stemmed from him clipping the car driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, instantly stated that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and fairness under scrutiny

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes bad luck, strategy and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – 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 opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when the amicable relationship between the two may – finally – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess the elbows are going to come out further. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision of circumstances. Especially since for F1 the alternative perception from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for themselves and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity against team management

Yet having drivers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall for resolutions appears unsightly. Their contest should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, but better to let them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, than the impression that each contentious incident will be pored over by the team to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Previously, following the team's decision for position swaps in Italy due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

No one wants to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts had not been balanced. When asked if he believed the squad had managed to do right toward both racers, Piastri responded that they did, but noted that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and withdraw from the conflict.