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The British racing team and Formula One could do with anything decisive during this championship battle between Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved on the track rather than without resorting to the pit wall as the championship finale begins this weekend at Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to team tensions

With the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs dealt with, McLaren is aiming for a fresh start. Norris was almost certainly fully conscious of the historical context regarding his retort to his aggrieved teammate during the previous race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes was lost on no one but the incident that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s iconic battles.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting an inside move of a big gap then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris of his opening-lap attempt to pass that led to the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap that exists you are no longer a true racer” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart following his collision with the French champion in Japan in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he had no intent of letting Prost to defeat him through the first corner while 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 McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself stemmed from him clipping the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; the implication being the two teammates clashing was forbidden by team protocols of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, each would quickly ask to the team to step in in their favor.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now covers bad luck, strategy and on-track occurrences 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 perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when the amicable relationship among them may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come to a situation where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase a bit more. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For spectators, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed as an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision of circumstances. Especially since for F1 the other impression from all this isn't very inspiring.

To be fair, McLaren are making the correct decisions for their interests and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to do the right thing.

Sporting integrity against team management

Yet having drivers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters 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 see how fortune falls, than the impression that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The examination will increase and each time it happens it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he was treated unfairly with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also looms.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to witness a championship endlessly debated because it may be considered that fairness attempts were unequal. Questioned whether he believed the squad had managed to do right toward both racers, Piastri said 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 stated post-race. “However finally it’s a learning process for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. McLaren have little wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and step back from the conflict.