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The British racing team and F1 could do with anything decisive in the championship battle involving Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track and without resorting to team orders with the championship finale begins this weekend at COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath leads to team tensions

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses concluded, McLaren is aiming for a reset. The British driver was likely fully conscious about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel against Piastri, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes did not go unnoticed but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going an inside move through an opening then you don't belong in Formula One,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to overtake that led to the cars colliding.

His comment appeared to paraphrase 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 following his collision with the French champion in Japan in 1990, securing him the title.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

Although the attitude remains comparable, the wording is where the similarities end. Senna later admitted he never intended to allow Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he had with his team colleague during the pass. That itself was a result of him clipping the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being their collision was verboten under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to return the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes of contention, both will promptly appeal to the team to step in in their favor.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race against each other and to try to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines just or unjust – under these conditions, now includes bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there is the question regarding opinions.

Most crucially to the title race, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists on fairness and when their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when their friendly rapport between the two could eventually – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase a bit more. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will likely be appreciated in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Not least because 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 secured their 10th constructors’ title in Singapore (though a great achievement overshadowed by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and with Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who truly aims to do the right thing.

Racing purity versus squad control

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall for resolutions appears unsightly. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Chance and fate will play their part, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the team to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved later in private.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Previously, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair had not been balanced. Questioned whether he felt the team had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri responded that they did, but noted it's a developing process.

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

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and step back from the conflict.