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McLaren along with Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle involving Norris and Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track rather than without resorting to the pit wall with the championship finale kicks off at the COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs dealt with, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a fresh start. Norris was almost certainly fully conscious about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight with the Australian, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes did not go unnoticed but the incident which triggered his statement was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside through an opening then you should not be in Formula One,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” justification he provided to the racing knight following his collision with the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he never intended of letting Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris did try to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. That itself stemmed from him clipping the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, instantly stated that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; the implication being their collision was forbidden by team protocols for racing 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, each would quickly ask the squad to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and impartiality being examined

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race one another and to try to maintain strict fairness. Aside from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now includes misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there is the question regarding opinions.

Of most import for the championship, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport between the two could eventually – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach a point where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after Singapore. “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 starts to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Not least because for F1 the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making the correct decisions for their interests with successful results. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and with Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and upright commander who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity versus squad control

Yet having drivers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions appears unsightly. Their contest ought to be determined on track. Luck and destiny will have roles, but better to let them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the team to ascertain whether intervention is needed and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, following the team's decision their drivers swap places in Italy because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri said he believed they had, but noted it's a developing process.

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

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little room for error to do their cramming, so it may be better to just stop analyzing and step back from the fray.