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McLaren along with Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this title fight involving Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri getting resolved through on-track action and without resorting to the pit wall with the championship finale begins at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts team tensions

After the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and tense debriefs dealt with, McLaren is aiming for a fresh start. The British driver was likely fully conscious of the historical context of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna well-known quotes was lost on no one but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“If you fault me for simply attempting on the inside of a big gap then you should not be in Formula One,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to overtake that led to the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” defence he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into Alain Prost in Japan back in 1990, securing him the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

Although the attitude remains comparable, the wording marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris did try to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. 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 stemmed from him clipping the car of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that the two teammates clashing was forbidden by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the position he gained. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, both will promptly appeal to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and fairness being examined

This comes naturally of McLaren’s laudable efforts to let their drivers race against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents over what constitutes just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now includes bad luck, tactical calls and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – there is the question of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, each racer's view exists as fair and when their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. Which is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come to a situation where a few points will matter,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I suppose the elbows are going to come out a bit more. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation rather than a data-driven decision of circumstances. Not least because for F1 the other impression from all this isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making the correct decisions for themselves and it has paid off. They clinched 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 possess a moral and upright commander who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity against team management

Yet having drivers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters is unedifying. Their contest should be decided on track. Luck and destiny will play their part, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, than the impression that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to ascertain whether intervention is needed and subsequently resolved later in private.

The examination will increase with every occurrence it is in danger of potentially making a difference that could be critical. Previously, after the team made for position swaps in Italy because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he felt the team had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri responded that they did, but noted that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated after Singapore. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

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