Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images
With McLaren tracking down Red Bull, and Lando Norris chasing Max Verstappen, the team is tweaking their approach
McLaren’s “Papaya Rules,” the subject of much discussion in recent weeks, are getting an adjustment.
At least for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
With the Woking-based outfit balancing two title races — chasing down Red Bull in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship while Lando Norris tries tracking down Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship — how the team balances those dual goals has been a matter of heated debate.
The first flash point came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Norris was instructed late in the race to allow Oscar Piastri to retake first place, after the team pitted Norris before Piastri, giving Norris an undercut against his teammate.
The latest point of discussion came after the Italian Grand Prix. While the team locked out the front row in qualifying, with Norris in P1 and Piastri in P2, by the time the first lap ended it was Piastri in first, and Norris down in third. Piastri’s bold — but clean — overtake of Norris at Turn 4 saw the Australian driver sweep into the lead, and Norris slide back to third.
While Ferrari ultimately won the day, thanks to Charles Leclerc’s stellar second stint as he managed a set of hard tires over 38 laps, holding off the McLaren duo down the stretch, McLaren’s P2-P3 finish led to more questions. It was not just about the initial pass, but why the team did not swap Piastri — who finished second — and Norris at the end of the race when it was clear Leclerc would win.
Speaking exclusively with BBC Sport ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella outlined how the “Papaya Rules,” which allowed the two drivers to race each other hard but clean and fair, would still be in place, but there is a shift in philosophy, at least for this weekend.
“The overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way,” began Stella with Andrew Benson of BBC Sport.
“We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” continued Stella. “Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
Currently, Norris trails Verstappen by 62 points in the Drivers’ Championship. That might be too big of a gap to overcome with just eight race weekends remaining, but factoring in three F1 Sprint Races over those eight race weekends gives Norris plenty of chances to make up the gap.
The team also trails Red Bull by just eight points in the Constructors’ Championship.
Stella also outlined how what happened on the opening lap in Monza also impacted the team from a Constructors’ Championship, which is why the rules of engagement might be different, at least this weekend.
“What we don’t want to see any more is a situation like in Monza in which we enter a chicane P1/P2 and we exit P1/P3. Because that is a detriment to the team,” continued Stella. “The team interests comes first and these are the situations that above all we need to fix because eventually, as a matter of fact, the way we entered the race in Monza left the door open this situation.”
The McLaren boss outlined three new pillars of engagement for the team.
“After Monza, three objectives: we need to make sure that anything that happens on track is not to the detriment of the team.
“Second objective, how do we win both championships, both drivers committed to help?
“But what we don’t want to do is win in a reckless way.
“Those are the three topics and they define the way we go racing in Baku. This will be updated after Baku,” concluded Stella.
The McLaren Team Principal also noted how both drivers, following a series of meetings in recent weeks, are on board with the plan, to a point. Even if it mean taking steps to “bias” — in Stella’s words — Norris in his title fight with Verstappen.
“The conversations have been very collaborative,” Stella said.
“Even when I said to Oscar: ‘Would you be available to give up a victory?’ He said: ‘It’s painful, but if it’s the right thing to do now, I will do it’.
“Every driver is hard-wired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period.”
As for Norris, according to Stella, he is okay with some assistance from the team, but with a less is more approach.
“Lando wants to win because he deserved the victory on track,” Stella said.
“It’s OK to be occasionally supported by your team-mate, but you don’t want to use, systematically, ways of adjusting the race just for the sake of the points when your team-mate is scoring in a way that he deserves. This is not the way McLaren want to win, or the way Lando wants to win,” continued Stella. “If I ask Lando, he would say: ‘I am comfortable if in Abu Dhabi [at the end of the season] I miss a few points that I could have got with some actions, but if those actions were not right at the time, then, you know what? We keep strong as a team, the team is stable and cohesive, we will give it a go next year’.”
However, the discussion regarding the Drivers’ Championship is just one part of the puzzle. Stella outlined that the Constructors’ Championship is an important goal.
“We need to be careful that while we focus the conversation and the attention on to the drivers’, we don’t lose sight on the fact that the constructors’ is at least a three-headed quest,” said Stella, noting Ferrari’s rejoining of that fight following Leclerc’s win in Monza.
