Lando Norris as Ayrton Senna and Oscar Piastri as Prost? Not exactly, but the team needs to pray championship gets decided through racing

The British racing team and Formula One would benefit from anything decisive during this championship battle between Lando Norris and Piastri being decided on the track and without resorting to team orders with the title run-in kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to team tensions

After the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and tense post-race analyses concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a reset. Norris was almost certainly more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte to his aggrieved teammate at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight against Piastri, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes did not go unnoticed yet the occurrence that provoked his comment differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for just going on the inside of a big gap then you don't belong in Formula One,” stated Norris of his opening-lap attempt to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.

The remark appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “Should you stop attempting an available gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” justification he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into Alain Prost at Suzuka back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the wording is where the similarities end. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost to defeat him through the first corner while Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he had with his team colleague during the pass. This incident was a result of him touching the car driven by Verstappen in front of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; the implication being the two teammates clashing was verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to give back the place he had made. The team refused, but it was indicative that in any cases of contention, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene in their favor.

Team dynamics and impartiality under scrutiny

This comes naturally from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and to try to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, strategy and racing incidents like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially to the title race, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – turn somewhat into Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then they’ll start to calculate and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase further. That’s when it starts to get interesting.”

Viewer desires and title consequences

For spectators, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as a track duel instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since for F1 the alternative perception from all this is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves with successful results. They clinched their 10th constructors’ title at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the fuss prompted by their drivers' clash) and with Stella as team principal they have an ethical and upright commander who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Sporting integrity against squad control

However, with racers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided on track. Luck and destiny will have roles, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the team to ascertain whether they need to intervene 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. Previously, following the team's decision their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a delayed stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the shadow of concern of favouritism also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

No one wants to see a title endlessly debated over perceived that fairness attempts had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri responded that they did, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

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

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal wriggle room left for last-minute adjustments, thus perhaps wiser now to simply stop analyzing and withdraw from the conflict.