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The British racing team and F1 would benefit from anything decisive in the championship battle involving Norris and Piastri being decided through on-track action and without resorting to team orders as the title run-in begins at the COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout prompts team tensions

After the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and tense debriefs dealt with, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last race weekend. During an intense title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna well-known quotes did not go unnoticed but the incident that provoked his comment differed completely to those that defined the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting an inside move through an opening then you should not be in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to the cars colliding.

The remark seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting for a gap that exists you are no longer a true racer” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with Alain Prost in Japan back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

Although the attitude is similar, the wording marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he had no intent of letting Prost to defeat him at turn one whereas Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised even with the glancing blow he made against his team colleague during the pass. That itself was a result of him clipping the car of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was forbidden under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the position he gained. The team refused, but it was indicative that in any cases between them, each would quickly ask the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and strive to maintain strict fairness. Aside from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules over what constitutes fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes bad luck, tactical calls and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, Piastri is ahead of Norris by twenty-two 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 the iconic rivalry.

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

Audience expectations and championship implications

For spectators, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation rather than a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since in Formula One the alternative perception from these events isn't very inspiring.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they have an ethical and upright commander who truly aims to do the right thing.

Racing purity versus team management

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their contest ought to be determined on track. Chance and fate will play their part, but better to let them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, than the impression that every disputed moment will be pored over by the squad to determine if they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The examination will intensify with every occurrence it is in danger of potentially making a difference that could be critical. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he felt the team had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri responded he believed they had, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“We've had several difficult situations and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he said after Singapore. “However finally it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal room for error for last-minute adjustments, thus perhaps wiser to just stop analyzing and step back from the conflict.