🔗 Share this article

McLaren along with F1 could do with anything decisive in the championship battle involving Lando Norris & Piastri being decided on the track and without resorting to team orders as the title run-in kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Marina Bay race fallout leads to internal strain

After the Marina Bay event’s undoubtedly thorough and tense debriefs dealt with, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a fresh start. The British driver was likely more than aware about the historical parallels regarding his retort to his aggrieved teammate at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight with the Australian, his reference to one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes was lost on no one 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 through an opening then you should not be in F1,” Norris said regarding his first-lap move to pass that led to their vehicles making contact.

His comment seemed to echo 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 the French champion in Japan in 1990, securing him the championship.

Similar spirit but different circumstances

While the spirit is similar, the phrasing is where the similarities end. The late champion confessed he never intended to allow Prost to defeat him at turn one while Norris attempted to make his pass cleanly in Singapore. Indeed, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty despite the minor contact he made against his McLaren teammate as he went through. This incident stemmed from him touching the Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of him.

Piastri reacted furiously and, notably, instantly stated that Norris gaining the place was “unfair”; the implication being their collision was verboten under McLaren’s rules for racing and Norris ought to be told to give back the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal the squad to step in on his behalf.

Squad management and fairness under scrutiny

This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to let their drivers race against each other and strive to maintain strict fairness. Quite apart from tying some torturous knots in setting precedents over what constitutes just or unjust – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, strategy and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue of perception.

Of most import for the championship, with six meetings remaining, Piastri leads Norris by 22 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 among them could eventually – turn somewhat into the iconic rivalry.

“It will reach a point where a few points will matter,” commented Mercedes boss Wolff after Singapore. “Then calculations will begin and back-calculate and I guess aggression will increase a bit more. That’s when it starts to get interesting.”

Audience expectations and championship implications

For the audience, during this dual battle, getting interesting will likely be appreciated in the form of an on-track confrontation instead of a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from all this is not particularly rousing.

Honestly speaking, McLaren are making appropriate choices for themselves with successful results. They secured their 10th constructors’ title in Singapore (though a great achievement diminished by the controversy from their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they possess a moral and principled leader who truly aims to act correctly.

Racing purity versus team management

However, with racers in a championship fight appealing to the team to decide matters is unedifying. Their competition should be decided through racing. Luck and destiny will have roles, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, rather than the sense that each contentious incident will be pored over by the team to determine if intervention is needed and subsequently resolved afterwards behind closed doors.

The scrutiny will increase and each time it happens it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Already, following the team's decision for position swaps in Italy due to Norris experiencing a slow pit stop and Piastri believing he had been hard done by regarding tactics at Hungary, where Norris won, the shadow of concern about bias also emerges.

Team perspective and upcoming tests

Nobody desires to see a title endlessly debated because it may be considered that the efforts to be fair were unequal. Questioned whether he believed the squad had acted correctly by both drivers, Piastri responded he believed they had, but mentioned it's a developing process.

“There’s been some difficult situations and we’ve spoken about various aspects,” he stated after Singapore. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”

Six races stay. McLaren have little room for error to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser to just stop analyzing and step back from the conflict.