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McLaren and Formula One could do with any conclusive outcome during this championship battle between Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track and without reference to team orders with the championship finale begins this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to internal strain

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and tense debriefs dealt with, McLaren is aiming for a reset. Norris was almost certainly more than aware of the historical context of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel against Piastri, his reference to a famous Senna most famous sentiments was lost on no one but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely to those that defined the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move of a big gap then you don't belong in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to their vehicles making contact.

The remark seemed to echo Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into Alain Prost at Suzuka back in 1990, securing him the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

While the spirit remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost beat him through the first corner while Norris did try to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. This incident was a result of him clipping the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, instantly stated that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing 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 between them, both will promptly appeal to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness under scrutiny

This is part and parcel of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules over what constitutes fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now includes misfortune, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists as fair and at what point their perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when the amicable relationship between the two may – finally – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come a point where a few points will matter,” commented 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 further. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will probably be welcomed as an on-track confrontation rather than a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since in Formula One the alternative perception from all this isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity versus squad control

Yet having drivers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall for resolutions appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will have roles, but better to let them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, than the impression that every disputed moment will be pored over by the squad to determine if they need to intervene and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

No one wants to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether 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.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated 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 now to simply stop analyzing and withdraw from the conflict.