Lando Norris colliding with Oscar Piastri is just what McLaren needed

Contact between McLaren drivers is nothing new to Formula 1. In fact, it is rather familiar.

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost coming to blows at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1989; David Coulthard spinning Mika Hakkinen on the opening lap of the Austrian Grand Prix a decade later, and Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button colliding at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2011.

And now, in the Canadian Grand Prix, Lando Norris crashing into the back of Oscar Piastri at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in almost the same place as the latter incident.

Whilst it might be a stretch to suggest it is engrained in the DNA of the Woking-based team, and it is worth providing the caveat that not all of the above involved two guilty parties, there is nonetheless a pattern.

The current leadership at McLaren has instilled strong, team-centric principles in its two drivers, all while insisting they are both 'number one'.

Despite it being a philosophy that has caused considerable issues and internal unrest in the past, Norris and Piastri are viewed as completely equal.

When not if

Parity and papaya rules has led to a harmonious coexistence between them, for the most part, helping carry the team to a significant lead in the constructors' standings and both to the summit in the drivers' fight, not to mention a first constructors' title since 1998 last term.

Despite that, team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown have maintained all year that an incident between the pair was a case of when, not if. They were right.

Team-mates crashing is, without doubt, a disaster in motorsport. The other driver in your team is the last person you would want to have a collision with. The fallout can be severe.

But, in some ways, Norris running into the back of Piastri is precisely what McLaren needed. 

At the end of the weekend in Montreal, Stella conceded that contact between the two "will happen again" as the championship battle intensifies.

That was a remarkably realistic and level-headed outlook for a team boss who had just watched one of his drivers put his car into a wall, jeopardising the race of the other, through a completely unnecessary and unforced error.

It underlines a critical reason as to why the incident stands to only strengthen the team, when it might weaken others.

McLaren, through the stewardship of Stella, appears to be fundamentally well-positioned and well-equipped to deal with such tensions.

The Italian echoed that sentiment by saying that "having the experience of this kind of situation will make us more robust as a team".

It also allows the build-up of pressure to dissipate, a relief of sorts. It transforms the looming uncertainty of a catastrophic threat into a discernible reality.

It additionally removes the anxiety of the unknown, replacing it with the comprehension of understanding. It takes the sting out of an F1 team's worst possible scenario by realising it to a moderated extent.

McLaren is afforded that opportunity at low cost through two central factors: Only one driver was 'hurt' by the incident, and it was relatively low stakes, all things considered.

The driver responsible paid the highest price. Running fourth and fifth, Piastri was on course to extend his championship lead over his team-mate from 10 points to 12. Norris colliding with the back of the Australian's MCL39 saw that grow to 22 points.

Stella called the fact that the pair were only fighting for points, and not victory, a "very minor mitigation". Nevertheless, it has allowed the team to address a potentially far more damaging scenario because of a small, ultimately inconsequential moment for the would-be victim.

No Oscar Piastris were harmed in the making of this lesson.

Like Stella said, it will happen again, but it need not be as devastating as it might otherwise have been, because of what happened in Canada and subsequently what comes next.

McLaren - and its two drivers - can learn from this and likely will learn from this. In turn, that may reduce the frequency and magnitude of future incidents.