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McLaren along with F1 could do with anything decisive during this championship battle involving Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided through on-track action rather than without reference to team orders as the championship finale begins at the Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

After the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was likely more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate at the last race weekend. During an intense championship duel with the Australian, his reference to a famous Senna most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed but the incident that provoked his comment differed completely from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

“Should you criticize 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 that led to their vehicles making contact.

The remark appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go for a gap that exists then you cease to be a true racer” defence he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

Although the attitude remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he had no intent to allow Prost beat him at turn one while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake 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 as he went through. That itself stemmed from him clipping the car driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to step in on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach 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 includes misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there is the question of perception.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, 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 may – finally – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal Wolff post-race. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I suppose aggression will increase a bit more. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For spectators, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation rather than a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from all this isn't very inspiring.

To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests and it has paid off. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Sporting integrity against team management

However, with racers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions appears unsightly. Their contest ought to be determined through racing. Chance and fate will have roles, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be pored over by the squad to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved later in private.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it risks possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that fairness attempts were unequal. When asked if he felt the team had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we discussed a number of things,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal room for error to do their cramming, so it may be better to just close the books and withdraw from the conflict.