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McLaren along with Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle involving Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri being decided through on-track action and without reference to team orders as the championship finale begins at the COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and stressful post-race analyses dealt with, 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 at the last race weekend. During an intense championship duel against Piastri, his reference to a famous Senna well-known quotes was lost on no one yet the occurrence that provoked his comment differed completely to those that defined Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going an inside move through an opening then you don't belong in Formula One,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “Should you stop attempting an available gap which is there you are no longer a true racer” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent to allow Prost beat him at turn one while Norris did try to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he had with his team colleague during the pass. That itself was a result of him clipping the Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being the two teammates clashing was forbidden by team protocols for racing and Norris should be instructed to return the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and impartiality being examined

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now includes misfortune, strategy and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – there is the question regarding opinions.

Most crucially for the championship, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and when their perspectives might split from the team's stance. Which is when the amicable relationship between the two may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff post-race. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I suppose the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and championship implications

For spectators, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation rather than a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Not least because for F1 the alternative perception from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making the correct decisions for themselves and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and upright commander who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Sporting integrity versus squad control

However, with racers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, than the impression that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if intervention is needed and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will increase with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision their drivers swap places in Italy because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he said post-race. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal room for error for last-minute adjustments, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and withdraw from the conflict.