🔗 Share this article

The British racing team along with Formula One would benefit from any conclusive outcome during this championship battle involving Lando Norris & Piastri being decided on the track rather than without resorting to team orders with the title run-in kicks off this weekend at COTA on Friday.

Singapore Grand Prix aftermath leads to team tensions

With the Marina Bay event’s doubtless extensive and tense debriefs concluded, the Woking-based squad is aiming for a reset. The British driver was likely fully conscious 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 but the incident that provoked his comment differed completely from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“If you fault me for simply attempting an inside move of a big gap then you don't belong in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass which resulted in their vehicles making contact.

His comment seemed to echo Senna’s “If you no longer go an available gap that exists you are no longer a racing driver” justification he provided to the racing knight after he ploughed into the French champion in Japan back in 1990, ensuring he took the championship.

Parallel mindset yet distinct situations

Although the attitude remains comparable, the wording marks where parallels stop. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost to defeat him through the first corner while Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake at the Marina Bay circuit. In fact, it was a perfectly valid effort which received no penalty despite the minor contact he had with his team colleague as he went through. This incident stemmed from him clipping the car driven by Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, instantly stated that Norris's position gain was “unfair”; suggesting that their collision was verboten under McLaren’s rules of engagement and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, but it was indicative that during disputes between them, both will promptly appeal to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Team dynamics and fairness being examined

This comes naturally 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 includes bad luck, strategy and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there is the question regarding opinions.

Of most import to the title race, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of Norris by 22 points, there is what each driver perceives on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when their friendly rapport among them may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach to a situation where minor points count,” commented Mercedes team principal Wolff after Singapore. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I suppose 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, increased excitement will likely be appreciated in the form of a track duel instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration regarding incidents. Not least because for F1 the other impression from all this isn't very inspiring.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves and it has paid off. They secured their 10th constructors’ title in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the controversy from the Norris-Piastri moment) and with Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and upright commander who genuinely wants to do the right thing.

Racing purity versus team management

However, with racers in a championship fight appealing to the team for resolutions appears unsightly. Their contest should be decided on track. Chance and fate will have roles, but better to let them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that every disputed moment will be analyzed intensely by the squad to determine if intervention is needed and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will intensify with every occurrence it is in danger of possibly affecting outcomes that could be critical. Already, after the team made their drivers swap places in Italy due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris triumphed, the shadow of concern of favouritism also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated over perceived that the efforts to be fair were unequal. Questioned whether he felt the team had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri responded he believed they had, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we discussed a number of things,” he said post-race. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six meetings remain. McLaren have little room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just close the books and step back from the fray.