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McLaren and F1 would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle involving Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track and without resorting to team orders as the championship finale begins at the COTA starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath prompts internal strain

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and stressful post-race analyses concluded, McLaren will be hoping for a fresh start. Norris was likely more than aware of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. During an intense championship duel against Piastri, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s most famous sentiments was lost on no one yet the occurrence which triggered his statement differed completely to those that defined Senna's great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move through an opening then you should not be in Formula One,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap that exists you are no longer a true racer” defence he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with Alain Prost in Japan in 1990, securing him the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

While the spirit is similar, the wording is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost beat him at turn one whereas Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. That itself stemmed from him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris ought to be told to give back the position he gained. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene in their favor.

Team dynamics and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes bad luck, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there is the question regarding opinions.

Of most import to the title race, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes team principal 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 starts to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and title consequences

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated in the form of a track duel rather than a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Especially since for F1 the alternative perception from all this isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making the correct decisions for their interests with successful results. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and upright commander who genuinely wants to do the right thing.

Sporting integrity against squad control

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition should be decided through racing. Chance and fate 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 analyzed intensely by the team to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will intensify and each time it happens it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Previously, following the team's decision their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris won, the shadow of concern of favouritism also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair had not been balanced. Questioned whether he felt the team had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he said post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little room for error to do their cramming, so it may be better to just stop analyzing and step back from the conflict.