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The British racing team along with Formula One would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this championship battle between Norris and Oscar Piastri being decided on the track and without reference to the pit wall as the championship finale begins at the COTA on Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath prompts team tensions

After the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and tense post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a reset. The British driver was likely more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna well-known quotes did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence which triggered his statement differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting an inside move of a big gap then you should not be in Formula One,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “Should you stop attempting for a gap which is there then you cease to be a true racer” justification he provided to the racing knight following his collision with the French champion at Suzuka back in 1990, securing him the championship.

Parallel mindset but different circumstances

While the spirit remains comparable, the wording is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he had no intent to allow Prost beat him through the first corner while Norris did try to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident stemmed from him touching the car driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris ought to be told to return the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that in any cases between them, each would quickly ask to the team to step in on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race one another and to try to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules about what defines just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now includes misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Of most import 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 perspectives might split with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when their friendly rapport among them could eventually – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come to a situation where minor points count,” said Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “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 begins to get interesting.”

Viewer desires and title consequences

For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Not least because for F1 the alternative perception from these events isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for their interests and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they possess a moral and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity against team management

However, with racers in a championship fight appealing to the team for resolutions is unedifying. Their competition ought to be determined through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be pored over by the team to ascertain whether intervention is needed and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny 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 at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear of favouritism also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship constantly disputed because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair were unequal. Questioned whether he felt the team had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri said that they did, but noted it's a developing process.

“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he stated after Singapore. “However finally it’s a learning process with the whole team.”

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser now to simply stop analyzing and step back from the conflict.