Norris as Senna and Oscar Piastri as Alain Prost? No, but the team needs to pray championship is settled on track

McLaren along with Formula One could do with anything decisive in the title fight between Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri getting resolved through on-track action rather than without resorting to team orders with the championship finale kicks off at the COTA on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout prompts internal strain

With the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful post-race analyses dealt with, McLaren is aiming for a reset. The British driver was likely fully conscious about the historical parallels regarding his retort toward his upset colleague at the last race weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel against Piastri, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed but the incident which triggered his statement differed completely to those that defined Senna's great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting an inside move through an opening then you should not be in F1,” stated Norris of his opening-lap attempt to pass that led to their vehicles making contact.

The remark appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “Should you stop attempting for a gap which is there you are no longer a racing driver” justification he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

Although the attitude is similar, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost beat him at turn one while Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate that went unpenalised despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. That itself was a result of him clipping the Red Bull driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, instantly stated that Norris's position gain seemed unjust; the implication being their collision was forbidden by team protocols for racing and Norris ought to be told to give back the position he gained. The team refused, but it was indicative that in any cases between them, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and impartiality under scrutiny

This is part and parcel of McLaren’s laudable efforts to allow their racers compete one another and to try to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas when establishing rules about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now covers misfortune, strategy and racing incidents such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and when their perspectives might split from the team's stance. That is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – become a little bit more Senna-Prost.

“It’s going to come a point where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff post-race. “Then calculations will begin and re-calculations and I guess aggression will increase further. 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 likely be appreciated in the form of an on-track confrontation rather than a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Not least because in Formula One the other impression from all this isn't very inspiring.

To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests with successful results. They clinched their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (though a great achievement overshadowed by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as team principal they possess a moral and upright commander who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity versus team management

Yet having drivers in a championship fight looking to the pitwall to decide matters appears unsightly. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will have roles, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the team to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will intensify with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places in Italy due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly regarding tactics in Budapest, where Norris triumphed, the shadow of concern about bias also looms.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

No one wants to see a title constantly disputed because it may be considered that fairness attempts were unequal. When asked if he felt the team had managed to do right toward both racers, Piastri said he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we’ve spoken about a number of things,” he said after Singapore. “But ultimately it's educational with the whole team.”

Six meetings remain. The team has minimal room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just stop analyzing and withdraw from the fray.