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McLaren and Formula One could do with anything decisive during this championship battle between Norris and Piastri getting resolved on the track and without resorting to the pit wall with the title run-in begins at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and stressful post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware of the historical context of his riposte toward his upset colleague during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel against Piastri, his reference to a famous Senna well-known quotes was lost on no one but the incident which triggered his statement was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“If you fault me for just going on the inside through an opening then you should not be in F1,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “If you no longer go an available gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” justification he provided to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into the French champion in Japan back in 1990, securing him the title.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he never intended to allow Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris did try to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he had with his team colleague during the pass. This incident stemmed from him touching the car of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; the implication being their collision was forbidden under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris ought to be told to return the place he had made. The team refused, but it was indicative that during disputes between them, both will promptly appeal to the team to step in on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Aside from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, tactical calls and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, 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. That is when the amicable relationship among them could eventually – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I guess aggression will increase a bit more. That's when it begins to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For spectators, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Especially since for F1 the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making the correct decisions for themselves with successful results. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and with Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Sporting integrity against squad control

Yet having drivers competing for the title looking to the pitwall for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition should be decided on track. Chance and fate will play their part, but better to let them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the squad to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The examination will intensify and each time it happens it risks possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, after the team made for position swaps in Italy due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated over perceived that the efforts to be fair were unequal. When asked if he believed the squad had managed to do right toward both racers, Piastri responded that they did, but noted it's a developing process.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about various aspects,” he said post-race. “But ultimately it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six races stay. McLaren have little wriggle room left for last-minute adjustments, so it may be better now to simply close the books and step back from the conflict.