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The British racing team and Formula One would benefit from anything decisive in the championship battle between Norris & Piastri being decided through on-track action and without resorting to the pit wall as the title run-in begins this weekend at Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath prompts internal strain

After the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and tense debriefs concluded, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was almost certainly fully conscious about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous grand prix 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 but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going an inside move through an opening then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap that exists then you cease to be a true racer” defence he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost at Suzuka back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

While the spirit is similar, the wording is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he had no intent to allow Prost beat him through the first corner while Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate that went unpenalised despite the minor contact he had with his McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself was a result of him clipping the Red Bull driven by Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes of contention, each would quickly ask the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality being examined

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and to try to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules over what constitutes fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now covers misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists as fair and at what point their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” said Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I suppose aggression will increase further. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as a track duel instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since for F1 the alternative perception from all this isn't very inspiring.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for their interests with successful results. They secured their tenth team championship in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as squad leader they possess a moral and principled leader who truly aims to do the right thing.

Racing purity versus squad control

Yet having drivers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their contest ought to be determined on track. Luck and destiny will have roles, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the squad to ascertain whether intervention is needed and then cleared up later in private.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Previously, following the team's decision for position swaps in Italy because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also emerges.

Team perspective and future challenges

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated over perceived that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he felt the team had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri responded he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“We've had several challenging moments and we discussed a number of things,” he stated post-race. “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 to just close the books and withdraw from the fray.