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McLaren along with Formula One could do with anything decisive in the title fight involving Lando Norris and Piastri getting resolved on the track and without reference to the pit wall with the title run-in begins this weekend at COTA on Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts team tensions

After the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and stressful debriefs concluded, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware about the historical parallels regarding his retort toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s most famous sentiments was lost on no one but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely to those that defined the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going on the inside of a big gap then you should not be in F1,” stated Norris of his opening-lap attempt to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

His comment appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting for a gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with Alain Prost in Japan in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent to allow Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. This incident stemmed from him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris ought to be told to return the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that in any cases between them, each would quickly ask to the team to step in on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This is part and parcel of McLaren’s laudable efforts to allow their racers compete one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules over what constitutes just or unjust – under these conditions, now covers bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Most crucially for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach a point where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed as an on-track confrontation rather than a data-driven decision of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from these events isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves with successful results. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to do the right thing.

Racing purity against team management

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters is unedifying. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, but better to let them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the squad to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The examination will increase and each time it happens it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Previously, after the team made for position swaps 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 shadow of concern about bias also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts had not been balanced. When asked if he believed the squad had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“We've had several challenging moments and we discussed various aspects,” he stated after Singapore. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, so it may be better to just stop analyzing and withdraw from the fray.