For the best part of a year and a half, wander into the McLaren garage on a race weekend and the phrase ‘papaya rules’ is never far from anyone’s lips. The first reference to the team’s internal code of conduct for its drivers was made at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

There Andrea Stella use the term in a post qualifying interview stating: “Our recommendation is always racing with the papaya rules, whereby, when the car is papaya, like you are always careful with any other competitor, but if the car is papaya, you take even extra care.”

Yet almost before the world new the further details of McLaren’s driver code of contact, Oscar Piastri made risky move on the opening lap of the race to overtake his team mate who had claimed pole position. 

 

 

 

The birth of ‘papaya rules’

The crucial part of the move meant Norris had to run wide to avoid Piastri and this let through Charles Leclerc who wet on to win the race. Suddenly, the papaya rule book began to grow to include the underlying principal, “the interests of the team come first.”

McLaren insist to the point of distraction that their drivers are free to race, so long as the operate under the code devised. By the team. Further, they have refused to instigate team orders to further one drivers’ championship claims over the others although instructions from the pit wall have been issued despite this claim.

The emphasis on being fair to both drivers has created some excruciating moments like in Monza this year, where Norris was leading his team mate but behind Verstappen who was ahead of the field.

Norris was entitled to the first pit stop, but relinquished this to ensure his team mate was not undercut by Charles Leclerc. A solid change of tyres for Piastri saw him keep the Ferrari rival behind.

DRS ‘banned’

 

 

 

McLaren issue team orders in Monza

Yet when Norris came in for fresh rubber on what wold have been his team mate’s slot, a wheel gun failed and he suffered a five second stationary stop. He emerged on track behind his team mate and the team ordered Piastri to let Norris by.

Oscar grumbled that the team had discussed this and that slow pit stops were part of racing, but the team insisted and he duly obliged. This marked the start of a collapse in Piastri’s form which saw him cede a 34 point lead after Zandvoort and he now faces a 16 point deficit to his team mate.

Papaya rules were under scrutiny again in Singapore, where at the start of the race, Norris nipped by his team mate the outside of turn two. The McLaren’s touched but despite Norris being ahead and the stewards deciding it was a racing incident, the team decided to punish Norris with “consequences” they refused to make public.

The racing gods were clearly unhappy with this result and at the following race weekend in Austin, Texas, the unthinkable happened. In an effort to overtake his team mate into turn one, Piastri caused a three car collision which saw both McLaren’s out of the race.

Ferrari confirm the ‘moment of madness’ which led to a failed 2025 season

 

 

 

Zak Brown’s stated principle

McLaren rescinded the unspeakable “consequences” handed down to Norris although non-were instated for the errant Australian. Prior to the team’s humiliating double disqualification in Brazil, Zak brown stated he would rather see Verstappen crowned champion than force one of his drivers to become a number to in support of their team mate’s title charge.

“If Max is the champion at the end of the year, for us the important thing is that we can say we have done our best and we have done our best according to the way we go racing,” he told the Beyond the Grid podcast.

He added: “I want to make sure if we don’t win, he beats us, we don’t beat ourselves – that’s important.” Again the racing gods interviewed in Qatar, as Mclaren’s team strategists handed their chief rival the Grand Prix victory. 

McLaren have suffered disqualification and completed the biggest strategy error of the season in Qatar, the result is that Max Verstappen is just 12 points behind Norris and 4 aead of Piastri going into the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The craziness of Red bull’s driver choice

 

 

 

Stella explains Abu Dhabi approach

When Andrea Stella was asked how there team wold approach the crunch decider in the dessert this weekend, the long winded Italian had this to say.

“The first element to focus on from a team point of view, I would say, is make sure that we are in condition, prepared, determined to execute perfect race weekends,” Stella said. “Because the pace has been in the car, the drivers are doing an exceptionally good job, but over the last couple of races, from a team point of view, we have not been in condition to capitalise on the good work of the drivers and the potential we have in the car.

“When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the quest for the world championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change. We will leave both Oscar and Lando the possibility to compete and pursue their aspiration.

“Oscar, from a points point of view, is definitely in condition to win the title. We have seen before in the history of Formula One that when you have this kind of situation, sometimes it’s the third one that actually wins.

Which car does the Yas Marin circuit favour? RB21 v MCL39

 

 

 

McLaren chief has previous experience of 3 way decider

“We have seen it in 2007, in 2010, and Oscar is fast. I think he deserves to be able to just realise his performance. We will let the drivers be in condition to race each other. What’s important for us is that we are in condition to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers,” Stella concluded.

During the 2007 decider, Stella was Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer and the Finnish driver entered the race in third place in the championship. Yet a poor race from the McLaren’s saw Raikkonen claim victory and clinch the title by a single point from the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

In 2010, Alonso was leading the world championship, with Mark Webber 7 points behind him and Sebastian Vettel 15 points behind in third place. Yet a strategy error from Ferrari saw them pit Alonso early who then trailed along behind Vitaly Petrov for the remainder of the race,

Italian report: Vasseur has 5 GP in 2026 to turn ferrari around

 

 

 

McLaren will overturn Zak Brown’s stated intention

Vettel of course claimed his first title wining the race in Abu Dhabi. However, Stella’s final comment reveals a shift in the view expressed by Brown on the podcast. He claims the team intend to ensure both their drivers are able to race each other, but the team wants to beat Verstappen with one of their drivers.

Depending on the race scenario, this would mean issuing team orders most probably to Oscar Piastri. Were Max to be winning the race and the McLaren’s in line astern P3 and P4, Piastri must let his team mate through to ensure the title goes to Norris.

After insisting there would be no team orders for the season and Zak Brown insisting he would prefer Verstappen to win, rather than compromise one of his drivers – this U-Turn would be a bitter pill for the Australian to swallow. I mean after all in Oscar’s situation secretly he would rather Verstappen claim the title than his team mate.

 

 

 

 

 Verstappen slams FIA ground effect era

Max Verstappen has won the Formula one drivers’ title in each the first three years of the current set of FIA regulated ‘ground effect’ cars. He may yet make a clean sweep of it on Sunday before the cars first conceived in 2022 are retired forever.

One of the key reasons for the FIA looking to a style of F1 car design first seen in the late 1970’s was to solve the interminable problem of the ‘dirty air’ which the aerodynamics of an F1creates, which disturbs the aerodynamics of a car following closely behind.

These vortices, which can be seen on the spray thrown up when the track is wet disturb the airflow across a following car, which in turn creates a loss of downforce and in turn damages the tyres of the car behind…. READ MORE