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The British racing team and F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome in the championship battle involving Norris & Piastri being decided through on-track action rather than without resorting to team orders as the title run-in begins at the COTA on Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts internal strain

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs dealt with, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous race weekend. During an intense championship duel against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed but the incident that provoked his comment differed completely to those that defined Senna's iconic battles.

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

The remark appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap that exists you are no longer a racing driver” justification he provided to the racing knight following his collision with the French champion in Japan back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he had no intent of letting Prost beat him at turn one while Norris did try to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he had with his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident was a result of him clipping the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was forbidden under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to return the position he gained. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to step in in their favor.

Squad management and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents about what defines just or unjust – under these conditions, now includes bad luck, strategy and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially for the championship, six races left, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and at what point their perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when their friendly rapport among them may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach a point where minor points count,” said Mercedes boss Wolff after Singapore. “Then they’ll start to calculate and back-calculate and I suppose the elbows are going to come out further. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Viewer desires and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, increased excitement will probably be welcomed as a track duel instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Not least because for F1 the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests with successful results. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement overshadowed by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they have an ethical and upright commander who truly aims to act correctly.

Racing purity against team management

Yet having drivers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters appears unsightly. Their contest should be decided on track. Chance and fate will have roles, but better to let them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, than the impression that each contentious incident will be pored over by the squad to determine if intervention is needed and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps in Italy because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also emerges.

Team perspective and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship endlessly debated over perceived that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri said that they did, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

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

Six races stay. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser now to simply close the books and withdraw from the fray.