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The British racing team and Formula One could do with anything decisive in the championship battle between Lando Norris & Piastri being decided on the track rather than without reference to the pit wall with the championship finale kicks off this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and stressful post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a reset. Norris was almost certainly more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested 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 was of an entirely different nature to those that defined the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting on the inside through an opening then you should not be in F1,” stated Norris of his opening-lap attempt to pass that led to the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he provided to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost at Suzuka in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

Although the attitude is similar, the wording marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he had no intent of letting Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris did try to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he had with his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident was a result of him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that their collision was verboten by team protocols for racing and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. The team refused, but it was indicative that during disputes of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to step in on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now covers misfortune, strategy and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists as fair and at what point their perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when the amicable relationship among them may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff post-race. “Then calculations will begin and re-calculations and I guess 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, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since for F1 the alternative perception from these events is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren is taking appropriate choices for their interests with successful results. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and upright commander who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity versus team management

Yet having drivers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Luck and destiny 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 they need to intervene and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will intensify with every occurrence it risks potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places in Italy due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris triumphed, the shadow of concern about bias also emerges.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to see a title constantly disputed over perceived that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri said he believed they had, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we discussed various aspects,” he said post-race. “But ultimately it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just stop analyzing and withdraw from the fray.