Oscar Piastri dreams of saying goodbye to Papaya Rules: “They won’t be needed if we fight between ourselves”. Throughout the past season, there has been much discussion about the 'Papaya Rules'.

Throughout the past season, there has been much discussion about the ‘Papaya Rules’. These are the rules created by McLaren to manage its drivers in case team orders were needed. The directives were aimed at achieving the best possible results for the team while putting individual goals aside.

The philosophy adopted by the Woking team, while allowing them to win the Constructors’ Championship, a title that had been missing for 25 seasons, has somewhat hurt Norris in his pursuit of the Drivers’ Championship. In hindsight, the few times the team had to resort to this strategy were inconsequential for Lando Norris‘s final standings. Max Verstappen would have likely won anyway.

Now, however, as the year has ended, we wonder if the world champion team will adopt the same approach in 2025, a year for which the British team has high expectations.

Piastri: “Next year I want to fight”
To clarify this point, ‘Autosport.com’ reached out to Oscar Piastri, who candidly stated: “I believe that if I had been in a better position, there would have been no need for team orders. From the outside, it may have seemed like a bigger issue than it actually was. There was never a clear situation where they were necessary.”

“We know we have to do the right thing when needed. Next year I want to be in a position where I can fight. We hope to see an exclusive battle between me and Lando for the championship. That would be the ideal scenario. Even without these internal rules, we’ve always worked trying to do the right thing for each other, and that won’t change,” he concluded.

Oscar dreams of saying goodbye to the ‘Papaya Rules’. He dreams big, but not always driving the most competitive car allows the team to refrain from issuing team orders. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg know this well, as their coexistence between 2014 and 2016 was complicated. During those years, they were the only ones racing against each other, with no rivals, but the team had to intervene frequently to prevent the rivalry between the two drivers from exploding within the garage.

The fact that the title is contested exclusively between them could put the team in a position where they don’t have to issue orders to their drivers, but ultimately, if the scenario were to occur, much would depend on Oscar and Lando. They would need to learn to manage themselves independently.