🔗 Share this article

McLaren along with Formula One would benefit from anything decisive in the championship battle involving Lando Norris and Piastri being decided through on-track action and without resorting to team orders as the title run-in kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas starting Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to internal strain

After the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and stressful post-race analyses dealt with, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was almost certainly more than aware about the historical parallels regarding his retort to his aggrieved teammate during the previous grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested championship duel with the Australian, that Norris invoked a famous Senna most famous sentiments did not go unnoticed but the incident that provoked his comment was of an entirely different nature to those that defined Senna's iconic battles.

“If you fault me for just going an inside move through an opening then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris regarding his first-lap move to overtake which resulted in their vehicles making contact.

His comment appeared to paraphrase the Brazilian legend's “Should you stop attempting an available gap which is there then you cease to be a racing driver” justification he gave to the racing knight following his collision with Alain Prost at Suzuka in 1990, securing him the championship.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

While the spirit remains comparable, the wording marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost beat him through the first corner whereas Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly at the Marina Bay circuit. Indeed, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he had with his McLaren teammate during the pass. This incident was a result of him clipping the Red Bull driven by Verstappen in front of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, significantly, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place seemed unjust; the implication being their collision was verboten under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris should be instructed to return the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that during disputes between them, both will promptly appeal to the team to step in in their favor.

Team dynamics and fairness under scrutiny

This is part and parcel of McLaren’s laudable efforts to allow their racers compete against each other and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents about what defines just or unjust – which, under these auspices, now includes bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially for the championship, six races left, Piastri is ahead of Norris by twenty-two points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and when their perspectives might split from the team's stance. Which is when the amicable relationship between the two may – finally – become a little bit more Senna-Prost.

“It will reach to a situation where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Toto Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and back-calculate and I suppose the elbows are going to come out further. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and title consequences

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will probably be welcomed in the form of an on-track confrontation rather than a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Not least because in Formula One the alternative perception from all this is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves and it has paid off. They secured their 10th constructors’ title at Marina Bay (though a great achievement diminished by the fuss prompted by the Norris-Piastri moment) and in Andrea Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Racing purity against team management

However, with racers competing for the title appealing to the team for resolutions is unedifying. Their contest ought to be determined through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, but better to let them just battle freely and see how fortune falls, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be pored over by the squad to ascertain whether intervention is needed and then cleared up afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it is in danger of potentially making a difference that could be critical. Previously, following the team's decision their drivers swap places at Monza because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he was treated unfairly with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris triumphed, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.

Team perspective and future challenges

No one wants to witness a championship endlessly debated over perceived that fairness attempts were unequal. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly 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 after Singapore. “However finally 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 withdraw from the fray.