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The British racing team and Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this title fight involving Norris and Piastri being decided on the track and without resorting to the pit wall as the title run-in begins this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout prompts team tensions

After the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs concluded, McLaren will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was almost certainly fully conscious of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight against Piastri, his reference to a famous Senna 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.

“Should you criticize me for just going an inside move through an opening then you don't belong 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 an available gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” justification he gave to the racing knight following his collision with Alain Prost at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he never intended to allow Prost beat him at turn one whereas Norris did try to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he had with his McLaren teammate as he went through. This incident stemmed from him touching the Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that their collision was verboten under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris ought to be told to give back the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask to the team to step in in their favor.

Squad management and fairness being examined

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and strive to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, tactical calls and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there is the question of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. Which is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – become a little bit more Senna-Prost.

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

Viewer desires and title consequences

For spectators, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as a track duel instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from these events 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 (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Sporting integrity versus squad control

Yet having drivers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, but better to let them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, than the impression that every disputed moment 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 intensify and each time it happens it is in danger of potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated over perceived that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had managed to do right toward both racers, Piastri said that they did, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little room for error for last-minute adjustments, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and withdraw from the fray.