Lando Norris as Ayrton Senna and Piastri likened to Prost? Not exactly, but the team must hope title is settled on track

The British racing team along with Formula One could do with any conclusive outcome in the title fight between Norris and Piastri being decided through on-track action and without reference to the pit wall with the championship finale kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to internal strain

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. Norris was almost certainly more than aware of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel against Piastri, his reference to a famous Senna well-known quotes did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing Senna's iconic battles.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside of a big gap then you should not be in F1,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to their vehicles making contact.

His comment appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go an available gap which is there you are no longer a true racer” defence he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he had no intent of letting Prost beat him through the first corner while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself was a result of him touching the car of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; suggesting that their collision was forbidden by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the position he gained. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, both will promptly appeal the squad to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and fairness being examined

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to allow their racers compete against each other and to try to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there is the question regarding opinions.

Most crucially to the title race, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when the amicable relationship among them may – finally – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal 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 spectators, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of a track duel rather than a data-driven decision of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves with successful results. They clinched their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and with Stella as team principal they possess a moral and upright commander who truly aims to do the right thing.

Racing purity against squad control

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition should be decided on track. Chance and fate will have roles, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, 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 afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will intensify with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts were unequal. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“We've had several difficult situations and we discussed various aspects,” he said post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six races stay. McLaren have little wriggle room left to do their cramming, so it may be better to just close the books and withdraw from the fray.