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The British racing team along with F1 could do with anything decisive in the title fight involving Norris and Oscar Piastri getting resolved through on-track action rather than without resorting to team orders with the title run-in kicks off at the COTA on Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix fallout prompts team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs concluded, McLaren is aiming for a fresh start. Norris was almost certainly fully conscious about the historical parallels regarding his retort toward his upset colleague at the last race weekend. During an intense title fight against Piastri, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes was lost on no one yet the occurrence that provoked his comment differed completely to those that defined the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

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

His comment seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go for a gap which is there then you cease to be a true racer” justification he provided to the racing knight after he ploughed into the French champion in Japan in 1990, securing him the title.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

Although the attitude remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended of letting Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris attempted 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 made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself was a result of him touching the car of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was forbidden by team protocols of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that in any cases of contention, each would quickly ask the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete against each other and strive to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents about what defines just or unjust – under these conditions, now covers bad luck, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there is the question of perception.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, each racer's view exists on fairness and when their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. 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,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase further. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Not least because in Formula One the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for themselves with successful results. They clinched their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the fuss prompted by their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Racing purity against team management

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Chance and fate will have roles, but better to let them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the team to determine if intervention is needed and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will intensify with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also emerges.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

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 believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri said he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we discussed various aspects,” he said post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal room for error for last-minute adjustments, so it may be better to just close the books and step back from the fray.