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The British racing team and F1 would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle involving Lando Norris & Piastri being decided through on-track action rather than without resorting to team orders as the championship finale kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath leads to team tensions

After the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs concluded, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a fresh start. The British driver was almost certainly more than aware about the historical parallels regarding his retort to his aggrieved teammate at the last grand prix weekend. During an intense championship duel against Piastri, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence which triggered his statement differed completely to those that defined the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“Should you criticize 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 overtake that led to the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap which is there you are no longer a true racer” defence he provided to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost in Japan back in 1990, securing him the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

Although the attitude remains comparable, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost to defeat him through the first corner while Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident was a result of him touching the car driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, instantly stated that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; suggesting that their collision was forbidden by team protocols of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that in any cases between them, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete one another and strive to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules over what constitutes just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now covers misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Most crucially for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, each racer's view exists as fair and when their perspectives might split from the team's stance. That is when the amicable relationship between the two could eventually – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come a point where a few points will matter,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and back-calculate and I guess the elbows are going to come out further. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will probably be welcomed as an on-track confrontation rather than a data-driven decision of circumstances. Not least because for F1 the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves and it has paid off. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity against team management

Yet having drivers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions appears unsightly. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Chance and fate will have roles, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the squad to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it is in danger of potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Previously, after the team made their drivers swap places in Italy because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also emerges.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri responded 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 post-race. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, so it may be better now to simply stop analyzing and step back from the conflict.