McLaren along with F1 would benefit from anything decisive in the championship battle involving Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri being decided through on-track action rather than without resorting to team orders with the championship finale begins this weekend at COTA starting Friday.
Marina Bay race aftermath leads to team tensions
After the Singapore Grand Prix’s undoubtedly thorough and stressful debriefs concluded, the Woking-based squad will be hoping for a reset. Norris was likely more than aware about the historical parallels of his riposte toward his upset colleague at the last grand prix weekend. In a fiercely contested title fight against Piastri, that Norris invoked one of Ayrton Senna’s well-known quotes did not go unnoticed but the incident that provoked his comment differed completely from incidents characterizing Senna's iconic battles.
“If you fault me for just going on the inside of a big gap then you should not be in F1,” Norris said of his opening-lap attempt to pass which resulted in the cars colliding.
His comment appeared to paraphrase Senna’s “If you no longer go for a gap that exists then you cease to be a racing driver” defence he gave to Sir Jackie Stewart after he ploughed into the French champion at Suzuka in 1990, ensuring he took the title.
Parallel mindset but different circumstances
While the spirit is similar, the wording is where the similarities end. Senna later admitted he had no intent of letting Prost beat him at turn one whereas Norris attempted to execute a clean overtake in Singapore. In fact, his maneuver was legitimate which received no penalty even with the glancing blow he made against his team colleague as he went through. This incident 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 verboten by team protocols of engagement and Norris should be instructed to return the place he had made. The team refused, yet it demonstrated that in any cases of contention, both will promptly appeal to the team to step in on his behalf.
Squad management and fairness being examined
This is part and parcel from McLaren's commendable approach to allow their racers compete one another and strive to be as scrupulously fair. Quite apart from creating complex dilemmas in setting precedents about what defines fair or unfair – under these conditions, now includes misfortune, tactical calls and on-track occurrences such as in Singapore – there remains the issue regarding opinions.
Of most import for the championship, six races left, Piastri leads Norris by twenty-two points, each racer's view exists on fairness and at what point their opinion may diverge with that of the McLaren pitwall. That is when the amicable relationship among them may – finally – become a little bit more Senna-Prost.
“It will reach 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 a bit more. That’s when it starts to become thrilling.”
Audience expectations and title consequences
For the audience, in what is a two-horse race, getting interesting will likely be appreciated as a track duel rather than a spreadsheet-based arbitration of circumstances. Especially since in Formula One the other impression from these events is not particularly rousing.
To be fair, McLaren is taking the correct decisions for their interests and it has paid off. They clinched their tenth team championship in Singapore (albeit a brilliant success overshadowed by the fuss prompted by their drivers' clash) and in Andrea Stella as team principal they possess a moral and upright commander who genuinely wants to do the right thing.
Racing purity versus squad control
Yet having drivers competing for the title looking to the pitwall to decide matters is unedifying. Their contest ought to be determined through racing. Chance and fate will play their part, yet preferable to allow them just battle freely and observe outcomes naturally, than the impression that each contentious incident will be pored over by the team to determine if they need to intervene and subsequently resolved later in private.
The examination will increase with every occurrence it risks possibly affecting outcomes which might prove decisive. Previously, after the team made their drivers swap places in Italy because Norris had endured a slow pit stop and Piastri feeling he had been hard done by with the strategy call in Budapest, where Norris won, the spectre of a fear about bias also looms.
Team perspective and future challenges
Nobody desires to witness a championship constantly disputed over perceived that the efforts to be fair had not been balanced. Questioned whether he believed the squad had managed to do right by both drivers, Piastri said that they did, but mentioned that it was an ever-evolving approach.
“We've had several challenging moments and we’ve spoken about various aspects,” he said post-race. “But ultimately it's educational for the entire squad.”
Six races stay. McLaren have little wriggle room left to do their cramming, thus perhaps wiser now to simply stop analyzing and withdraw from the conflict.
