Papaya rules at McLaren: pressure rises, how will Norris and Piastri respond?
“McLaren will need to start supporting Piastri, otherwise an incident will be inevitable.” This is the warning from former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner regarding McLaren’s internal situation. While the British team secured the Constructors’ Championship in Singapore, attention now shifts to the drivers. Oscar Piastri leads the standings with a slim 22-point advantage over teammate Lando Norris and 63 over the relentless Max Verstappen. While the Dutch threat still seems distant, incidents at Marina Bay — where the McLaren duo made contact at the start — now demand careful management by the team led by Andrea Stella.
McLaren: three races without a win make headlines. Expect answers in Austin
Alongside internal issues, the third race without either Piastri or Norris on the top step of the podium has drawn attention. The MCL39 has shown flashes of strong race pace, and it’s likely that starting from the front in Singapore could have led to victory. Yet, since the Dutch GP, the dominant form that allowed the McLaren pair to achieve 12 wins in the first 15 races has vanished. At Monza and Baku, low aerodynamic load and minimal tire wear deprived the car of two key strengths, and at Marina Bay, a continuation of the papaya dominance was expected — but it didn’t happen.
Andrea Stella offered some answers, aside from George Russell’s near-unpredictable Mercedes performance: “When the asphalt is bumpy and there are high curbs, our car isn’t the best. We saw this in Montreal, then Baku, and finally Singapore. We struggle on tracks where braking and traction matter most, and also on circuits that require a low-downforce setup.” Now the circus moves to Austin, and the Circuit of the Americas will reveal whether the temporary shift in hierarchies is due to rival progress — primarily Red Bull and Mercedes — or if McLaren has genuinely lost performance. While it’s premature to suggest Woking could lose the drivers’ title, it will be crucial to see the margin Piastri and Norris carry into the final phase of the season.
McLaren: all eyes on Norris and Piastri, how will they manage the high-pressure finale?
Assuming no unexpected surprises — performance-wise or otherwise — the drivers’ championship battle will remain a contest between the McLaren duo. This brings us to the second part of the analysis of the British team’s situation: Norris and Piastri are now directly opposed in the title fight, with some friction evident. Until now, their management has been nearly flawless: the famous papaya rules have worked, allowing McLaren to secure the Constructors’ Championship with six races to spare, achieving the goal set at the start of the season by Stella & Co. However, the spotlight is now firmly on Norris and Piastri, and the behavior rules established by McLaren will face a rigorous test.
As known, in the final stages of a championship, pressure increases and each race result matters mainly for the overall standings. Therefore, applying the papaya rules will be far less straightforward than before. It’s difficult to imagine a repeat of Monza, where Piastri had to give back position to Norris after a slow pit stop, restoring the order. At the same time, closer battles between the two drivers are likely. Will the fair play defined by the papaya rules hold? Or will the outcome Steiner has long predicted become reality?
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