The McLaren rules
The battle for the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship was also influenced by the now infamous ‘papaya rules’—the team orders imposed on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri by McLaren to ensure a fair championship fight. Certain interventions by the team to ‘set things right’ during races, however, caused controversial tensions within the squad. The most notable instance, which in hindsight helped Lando Norris secure the World Championship, came at the Italian Grand Prix, when Oscar Piastri was instructed to let his teammate pass into second place after Lando had lost it due to a slow pit stop.
According to former McLaren driver Alex Palou, who has become a superstar in the United States by winning four IndyCar championships and is currently involved in a legal case against McLaren and Zak Brown, disobeying a team order—as many had suggested Oscar Piastri should do at the time—is much easier said than done. In an interview with the Spanish site Mundo Deportivo, the 28-year-old Chip Ganassi Racing driver explained the challenges a driver faces when ‘mutinying’ against their team.
Disobeying? Not so easy
“If they tell you to do it, you do it, because after all, you’re working for them. You can argue, but in the end, you’re driving that car thanks to them, or thanks to Chip Ganassi, in my case,” Alex Palou commented. “I don’t know what I would have done. From the outside, it’s very easy to say, ‘No, I’m second and he’s third, screw it, I’m going to finish ahead.’ But at that moment, you work for the factory, for the brand, for so many people: if they tell you to do it, in the end, you’re just an employee.”
The Spaniard also believes McLaren did not intend to favor Norris in the title fight, contrary to what many commentators and fans wrote. “I think the situation was exaggerated,” Palou added. “I believe the team simply found themselves with the best car and wanted to present the image of a ‘friendly’ team that does everything perfectly and takes care of its drivers. In trying to do that, they achieved the exact opposite, making everyone think that, somehow, one driver was being favored over the other. I don’t think there was any favoritism, but it is true that the papaya rules didn’t work as intended.”
The lessons learned from the “papaya rules” era will likely dictate how McLaren handles future internal battles. Alex Palou’s perspective serves as a grounded reminder that while F1 drivers are seen as gladiators, they operate within a corporate structure where the brand often takes precedence over individual glory. For Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, finding a balance between personal ambition and their roles as “employees” will remain the ultimate test of their partnership.
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