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The British racing team along with F1 would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this championship battle involving Norris & Piastri getting resolved on the track rather than without resorting to team orders as the championship finale begins this weekend at Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses concluded, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware about the historical parallels regarding his retort toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. During an intense championship duel 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 to those that defined Senna's great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move of a big gap then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” defence he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka in 1990, securing him the title.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

Although the attitude is similar, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he had no intent of letting Prost beat him at turn one while Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised despite the minor contact he had with his team colleague as he went through. This incident stemmed from him touching the Red Bull driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; the implication being their collision was verboten by team protocols for racing and Norris should be instructed to give back the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to step in on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality being examined

This is part and parcel of McLaren’s laudable efforts to allow their racers compete one another and to try to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – which, under these auspices, now covers bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, each racer's view exists as fair and when their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Viewer desires and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will probably be welcomed as an on-track confrontation instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the alternative perception 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 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 upright commander who truly aims to do the right thing.

Sporting integrity versus squad control

However, with racers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if intervention is needed and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, after the team made for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

No one wants to see a title endlessly debated over perceived that fairness attempts were unequal. When asked if he felt the team had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri said he believed they had, but noted that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we discussed various aspects,” he stated post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal wriggle room left for last-minute adjustments, so it may be better to just stop analyzing and step back from the fray.