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The British racing team and F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this championship battle involving Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track and without resorting to team orders as the championship finale kicks off at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was likely more than aware of the historical context regarding his retort to his aggrieved teammate at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight with the Australian, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s most famous sentiments was lost on no one yet the occurrence that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside of a big gap then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to overtake that led to the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting for a gap that exists you are no longer a true racer” justification he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

Although the attitude remains comparable, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris did try to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident was a result of him touching the car of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten by team protocols for racing and Norris ought to be told to return the place he had made. The team refused, but it was indicative that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and impartiality being examined

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race one another and to try to maintain strict fairness. Aside from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents over what constitutes just or unjust – under these conditions, 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, six races left, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and when their perspectives might split from the team's stance. That is when the amicable relationship between the two could eventually – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come a point where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I guess aggression will increase 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, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of a track duel instead of a data-driven decision of circumstances. Not least because in Formula One the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren is taking 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 controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity against squad control

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their contest should be decided on track. 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 analyzed intensely by the team to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places in Italy because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also emerges.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri responded 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 after Singapore. “But ultimately it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and withdraw from the conflict.