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The British racing team and Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle between Norris & Oscar Piastri being decided through on-track action and without resorting to the pit wall with the title run-in kicks off this weekend at COTA on Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to internal strain

After the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and tense post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a reset. Norris was almost certainly fully conscious of the historical context of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, his reference to a famous Senna most famous sentiments was lost on no one yet the occurrence which triggered his statement was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing Senna's iconic battles.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside through an opening then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris of his opening-lap attempt to pass that led to their vehicles making contact.

The remark appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “Should you stop attempting an available gap that exists then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he provided to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost in Japan back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he had no intent to allow Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty despite the minor contact he had with his team colleague during the pass. That itself was a result of him clipping the car driven by Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris ought to be told to return 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 step in on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality being examined

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete one another and strive to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents over what constitutes just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now covers bad luck, strategy and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and when their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when the amicable relationship among them could eventually – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach a point where minor points count,” commented Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then calculations will begin and re-calculations and I guess the elbows are going to come out further. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and championship implications

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement 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 these events is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement overshadowed by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as squad leader they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity versus squad control

However, with racers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters is unedifying. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Chance and fate will play their part, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be analyzed intensely by the squad to ascertain whether intervention is needed and subsequently resolved later in private.

The examination will intensify with every occurrence it is in danger of potentially making a difference that could be critical. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

Nobody desires to see a title constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair 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 mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal room for error for last-minute adjustments, so it may be better to just close the books and withdraw from the fray.