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The British racing team along with F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this title fight between Lando Norris & Piastri getting resolved on the track rather than without reference to the pit wall with the title run-in kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs dealt with, McLaren is aiming for a reset. Norris was almost certainly fully conscious about the historical parallels regarding his retort toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going on the inside of a big gap then you don't belong in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to their vehicles making contact.

The remark seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go for a gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

Although the attitude is similar, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent to allow Prost beat him through the first corner while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he made against his team colleague as he went through. This incident stemmed from him clipping the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; the implication being their collision was verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the position he gained. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that during disputes of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene in their favor.

Team dynamics and fairness under scrutiny

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. Aside from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now includes misfortune, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially for the championship, six races left, Piastri is ahead of Norris by twenty-two points, each racer's view exists on fairness and at what point their perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when the amicable relationship between the two could eventually – become a little bit more Senna-Prost.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I suppose the elbows are going to come out further. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as a track duel instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Especially since for F1 the alternative perception from these events is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for their interests with successful results. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who truly aims to do the right thing.

Sporting integrity against team management

However, with racers competing for the title appealing to the team to decide matters is unedifying. Their competition should be decided on track. Chance and fate will play their part, but better to let them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to ascertain whether they need to intervene and subsequently resolved later in private.

The scrutiny will intensify with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places at Monza due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated over perceived that fairness attempts were unequal. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri said he believed they had, but noted it's a developing process.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we discussed a number of things,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal wriggle room left for last-minute adjustments, so it may be better now to simply close the books and step back from the fray.