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McLaren along with Formula One could do with any conclusive outcome during this championship battle involving Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track rather than without resorting to the pit wall with the championship finale begins at the COTA starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix fallout leads to team tensions

With the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and tense post-race analyses concluded, McLaren will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was almost certainly more than aware of the historical context regarding his retort toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, his reference to a famous Senna well-known quotes was lost on no one but the incident that provoked his comment differed completely from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

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

His comment appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap which is there you are no longer a true racer” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with the French champion in Japan back in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

Although the attitude is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he had with his team colleague as he went through. That itself was a result of him clipping the Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; the implication being their collision was forbidden by team protocols of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that during disputes of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and impartiality being examined

This is part and parcel of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race against each other and strive to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules about what defines just or unjust – under these conditions, now covers misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. Which is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I guess the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed as a track duel instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Not least because for F1 the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the fuss prompted by their drivers' clash) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity against squad control

However, with racers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their contest should be decided through racing. Chance and fate will play their part, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the team to determine if they need to intervene and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of potentially making a difference that could be critical. Previously, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also emerges.

Team perspective and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship endlessly debated 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 responded that they did, but noted that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we discussed a number of things,” he stated post-race. “However finally it's educational with the whole team.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal wriggle room left for last-minute adjustments, thus perhaps wiser now to simply close the books and withdraw from the fray.