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McLaren along with Formula One could do with anything decisive in the title fight between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided through on-track action and without resorting to team orders as the championship finale begins this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath prompts internal strain

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was almost certainly more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments was lost on no one yet the occurrence which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's iconic battles.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move through an opening then you don't belong in F1,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “Should you stop attempting for a gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” justification he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart 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 marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost beat him at turn one whereas Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he had with his team colleague during the pass. That itself stemmed from him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was forbidden under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to return the position he gained. The team refused, but it was indicative that during disputes of contention, both will promptly appeal to the team to intervene in their favor.

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 to try to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now covers misfortune, strategy and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there is the question of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists on fairness and when their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when the amicable relationship among them could eventually – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come to a situation where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I suppose the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and championship implications

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. 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 with successful results. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement overshadowed by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Sporting integrity versus team management

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition ought to be determined on track. Luck and destiny will have roles, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, 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 and each time it happens it risks potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

No one wants to see a title constantly disputed over perceived that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri said that they did, but noted it's a developing process.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it's educational for the entire squad.”

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