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The British racing team and F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this title fight between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided on the track rather than without resorting to the pit wall with the championship finale begins at the Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath prompts team tensions

After the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and tense post-race analyses dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware of the historical context of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight with the Australian, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s most famous sentiments was lost on no one yet the occurrence which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside through an opening then you don't belong in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to overtake which resulted in the cars colliding.

His comment appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” justification he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost at Suzuka in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

Although the attitude remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. 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, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his team colleague as he went through. That itself stemmed from him touching the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. The team refused, but it was indicative that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts 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 – which, under these auspices, 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 22 points, each racer's view exists as fair and when 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 will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That’s when it starts to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For spectators, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of a track duel rather than a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Not least because for F1 the alternative perception from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and with Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity versus team management

However, with racers competing for the title appealing to the team to decide matters is unedifying. Their contest should be decided on track. Chance and fate will have roles, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if intervention is needed and subsequently resolved later in private.

The examination will increase and each time it happens it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to see a title constantly disputed because it may be considered that fairness attempts had not been balanced. When asked if 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.

“We've had several challenging moments and we discussed various aspects,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser now to simply close the books and withdraw from the fray.