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The British racing team along with F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this title fight involving Norris and Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track rather than without reference to team orders with the championship finale kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

With the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and stressful debriefs dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. Norris was likely fully conscious of the historical context of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous race weekend. During an intense title fight with the Australian, his reference to a famous Senna most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence which triggered his statement differed completely to those that defined the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

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

His comment appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “If you no longer go an available gap that exists then you cease to be a true racer” defence he gave to the racing knight following his collision with Alain Prost at Suzuka back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. That itself stemmed from him touching the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was verboten by team protocols for racing and Norris ought to be told to return the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and impartiality being examined

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents over what constitutes just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now covers misfortune, tactical calls and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I suppose the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as a track duel rather than a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Not least because in Formula One the other impression from all this isn't very inspiring.

To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for themselves and it has paid off. 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 squad leader they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to do the right thing.

Racing purity against squad control

Yet having drivers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Chance and fate will play their part, but better to let them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if intervention is needed and subsequently resolved later in private.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

No one wants to see a title constantly disputed over perceived that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had managed to do right toward both racers, 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 said post-race. “But ultimately it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser now to simply close the books and step back from the fray.