Norris/Piastri rivalry kicks off – “I think you shouldn’t be in F1” – The McLaren Formula One team have spent the entire season preaching the propaganda of team unity. In an effort to avoid the chaos Mercedes suffered when they were the team destined to win the drivers’ title race with Hamilton and Rosberg, the Woking based outfit have designed the infamous “papaya rules.”

Lando Norris has suffered from the worst of the team mates reliability issues, with brake. Issues forcing him to abandon the challenge on his team mate in China. In Zandvoort he also suffered a complete failure due to an ill fitted oil pipe hose causing him to DNF whilst in second place to Piastri.

In Monza whilst trailing Verstappen, the team asked Norris to give up his right to the first pit stop ton protect his Aussie team mate from the undercut. Lando complied but was to suffer a poor pit stop the next lap, the a wheel gun failed causing him to be stationary for around five seconds.

 

 

 

McLaren try to manage driver issues

The team decided this was unfair, because had Norris taken the first tyre change it would have been Piastri who suffered the wheel gun failure. With Piastri now ahead on track due to the mishap, they instructed him to give way to Lando despite his protestations.

Oscar’s race engineer Tom Stallard came on the radio and stated: “Oscar, this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race.” The reference to Hungary 20204 was when the team insisted Norris who had benefitted from an out of sequence pit stop move aside to allow his team mate claim his maiden F1 win.

Yet in Monza Piastri responded to the team order with a challenge: “I mean, we said a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here. But if you really want me to do it, then I’ll do it.” Oscar was equally irritated at the British Grand Prix when he was awarded a ten second time penalty from the stewards for a safety car infringement which the team believed was unfair.

He argued if it was unfair that Lando should not give back the position, something McLaren refused to endorse leaving him fuming in the press conference post the chequered flag. The stewards adjudged that Piastri’s braking behind the safety car was too never. “What Car 81 did was clearly a breach of that article. In accordance with the penalty guidelines, we imposed a 10-second time penalty to Car 81.”

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Piastri feels hard done to

In the media pen Piastri was visibly angry and when asked about the incident and there team’s refusal to order his team mate to move aside he had this to say. “I’m not going to say much; I’ll get myself in trouble. Well done to Nico Hulkenberg” {who scored the just podium of his lengthy career]. I think that’s the highlight of the day, so I’ll leave it there. Apparently, you can’t brake behind the safety car any more. I mean, I did it for five laps before that.”

Last time out in Singapore, Lando Norris had the audacity to take his opportunity at the start of the race to overtake his team mate. Oscar thought he saw an opportunity to overtake Verstappen around the outside of turn one and opened the door for Norris to make an opportunistic move on the inside.

Yet the was no room for the Aussie and in the process of his overtake attempt he opened the door for Norris to make a move up the inside. Piastri failed to take the racing line into turn two in an attempt to force his team mate wide. Yet Lando was aside him in the turn one to three corner sequence and benefited from the inside line into turn three.

McLaren propaganda over Piastri’s celebration failure at the Singapore GP

 

 

 

Verstappen was dawdling through the opening turns defending his position and Norris misjudged the move clipping the rear of the Red Bull. This catapulted his car to the right and into his team mate, who barely missed the wall and a second DNF in a row after his mistake in Baku where he jumped the start and attempted to correct his mistake into turn four and crashed into the barrier on lap one.

Norris suffered front wing damage which he carried to the end of the race in Singapore. Yet Piastri reportedly complained over team radio that the “papaya rules” had been broken. Insisting the team order his team mate relinquish the position.

McLaren team boss had previously explained, “Our recommendation is always racing with the papaya rules. Whereby, when the car is papaya, like you are always careful with any other competitor.

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Mclaren micro mangę GP racing

“But if the car is papaya, you take even extra care. We need to make sure, especially being the car so competitive, that we see the chequered flag and that we try and drive the race in synergy between our two drivers. 

“Rather than thinking that my main competitor is my team-mate. We try to stay away from this kind of mindset, because it’s not productive.”

In the first sign of significant trouble between the McLaren team mates, Norris was belligerent in the defence of his first lap move in Singapore. “Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as what I did,” Norris told the press,“So, I think if you fault me for just going up the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap… Then yeah, I think you shouldn’t be in Formula 1.”

Now McLaren have won the constructors’ tile race, the “papaya rules” are all but gone. Norris is clearly combative over the inter team battle and Piastri appears rattled so we have a genuine title race to the end on the season.

 

 

 

Leclerc Ferrari exit looms

Ferrari’s struggles continued under the humid lights of Singapore, where Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton once again found themselves fighting for positions in the lower half of the top ten, well behind the leading McLarens and Red Bulls. What had begun as a race filled with cautious optimism quickly descended into another frustrating chapter, compounded by persistent brake issues that left both drivers having to nurse their cars to the finish line.

This weekend’s misery followed hot on the heels of the disappointment in Baku — and Leclerc’s words over the team radio summed up the growing disillusionment within the Scuderia. ‘Feels like we’re just passengers,’ he lamented, echoing his exasperated radio outburst from the previous race, when his frustration at Ferrari’s declining competitiveness reached boiling point.

A driver once hailed as Ferrari’s future now finds himself trapped in a car that refuses to evolve. Increasingly, it’s not just Leclerc who senses that the team has lost its way….. READ MORE