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The British racing team along with F1 could do with any conclusive outcome during this championship battle involving Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided on the track rather than without resorting to team orders with the championship finale kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout prompts internal strain

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses dealt with, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. Norris was likely fully conscious of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. During an intense title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna well-known quotes was lost on no one but the incident that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature to those that defined Senna's iconic battles.

“If you fault me for just going on the inside through an opening then you should not be in F1,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go an available gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” defence he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into Alain Prost in Japan in 1990, securing him the championship.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost beat him at turn one while Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised despite the minor contact he had with his McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself was a result of him clipping the car driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; the implication being their collision was forbidden under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to return the position he gained. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and fairness being examined

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules over what constitutes just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now covers bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Of most import to the title race, six races left, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives as fair and when their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. Which is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach a point where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase further. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as a track duel rather than a data-driven decision of circumstances. 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 and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the fuss prompted by their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity against squad control

Yet having drivers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters is unedifying. Their competition ought to be determined on track. Chance and fate will play their part, but better to let them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the team to determine if intervention is needed and subsequently resolved later in private.

The scrutiny will intensify and each time it happens it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

No one wants to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri responded he believed they had, but noted it's a developing process.

“There’s been some challenging moments and we discussed a number of things,” he said after Singapore. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just stop analyzing and withdraw from the fray.