🔗 Share this article

The British racing team and Formula One could do with anything decisive during this championship battle involving Norris & Oscar Piastri being decided on the track rather than without resorting to team orders as the title run-in kicks off at the COTA starting Friday.

Marina Bay race aftermath leads to internal strain

After the Singapore Grand Prix’s doubtless extensive and tense debriefs dealt with, McLaren will be hoping for a reset. The British driver was almost certainly fully conscious of the historical context regarding his retort toward his upset colleague during the previous grand prix weekend. During an intense title fight with the Australian, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes was lost on no one yet the occurrence that provoked his comment differed completely from incidents characterizing the Brazilian’s great rivalries.

“Should you criticize me for simply attempting on the inside through an opening then you don't belong in F1,” stated Norris 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 then you cease to be a racing driver” justification he gave to the racing knight after he ploughed into the French champion in Japan back in 1990, ensuring he took the title.

Similar spirit yet distinct situations

While the spirit remains comparable, the phrasing marks where parallels stop. Senna later admitted he never intended of letting Prost beat him at turn one while Norris did try 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. This incident was a result of him clipping the Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

The Australian responded angrily and, notably, immediately declared that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; the implication being their collision was forbidden under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris should be instructed to give back the place he had made. McLaren did not do so, yet it demonstrated that in any cases between them, each would quickly ask to the team to intervene on his behalf.

Squad management and fairness being examined

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete against each other and strive to maintain strict fairness. Aside from tying some torturous knots when establishing rules over what constitutes just or unjust – under these conditions, now covers bad luck, tactical calls and on-track occurrences like in Marina Bay – there remains the issue of perception.

Most crucially for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri is ahead of 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. Which is when their friendly rapport between the two may – finally – become a little bit more the iconic rivalry.

“It’s going to come a point where minor points count,” said Mercedes boss Wolff post-race. “Then they’ll start to calculate and re-calculations and I guess aggression will increase further. That's when it begins to become thrilling.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, increased excitement will likely be appreciated as an on-track confrontation instead of a data-driven decision regarding incidents. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

To be fair, McLaren are making appropriate choices for their interests and it has paid off. They secured their tenth team championship at Marina Bay (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as squad leader they have an ethical and principled leader who genuinely wants to act correctly.

Racing purity against squad control

However, with racers in a championship fight appealing to the team for resolutions is unedifying. Their contest should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will play their part, yet preferable to allow them simply go at it and see how fortune falls, than the impression that each contentious incident will be pored over by the squad to ascertain whether they need to intervene and then cleared up later in private.

The scrutiny will intensify and each time it happens it risks potentially making a difference which might prove decisive. Already, after the team made for position swaps at Monza due to Norris experiencing a delayed stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by with the strategy call at Hungary, where Norris won, the shadow of concern of favouritism also emerges.

Squad viewpoint and future challenges

Nobody desires to witness a championship endlessly debated because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair had not been balanced. When asked if he felt the team had acted correctly toward both racers, Piastri said he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

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

Six races stay. McLaren have little wriggle room left to do their cramming, so it may be better now to simply stop analyzing and withdraw from the conflict.