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McLaren along with F1 would benefit from anything decisive during this title fight involving Norris and Oscar Piastri getting resolved through on-track action and without reference to the pit wall as the championship finale begins at the COTA on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout prompts team tensions

After 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 almost certainly fully conscious about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed but the incident which triggered his statement was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting on the inside of a big gap then you don't belong in Formula One,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to overtake which resulted in their vehicles making contact.

The remark appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap that exists then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost in Japan in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

Although the attitude remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended of letting Prost beat him at turn one while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort that went unpenalised despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself was a result of him touching the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that their collision was forbidden under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the place he had made. The team refused, but it was indicative that in any cases between them, each would quickly ask the squad to intervene in their favor.

Squad management and fairness under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules over what constitutes fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, tactical calls and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and when their perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. 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,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and re-calculations and I suppose aggression will increase a bit more. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Viewer desires and title consequences

For spectators, during this dual battle, increased excitement will likely be appreciated in the form of an on-track confrontation rather than a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for themselves and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and in Andrea Stella as squad leader they possess a moral and upright commander who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity versus team management

Yet having drivers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition ought to be determined on track. Chance and fate will play their part, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be pored over by the team to determine if they need to intervene and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Previously, following the team's decision for position swaps in Italy due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he felt the team had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri responded he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we’ve spoken about various aspects,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it's educational with the whole team.”

Six races stay. The team has minimal room for error to do their cramming, so it may be better to just stop analyzing and withdraw from the conflict.