Return of ‘Papaya rules’: “Oscar, hold position.” But McLaren was worried about rain and backmarkers. In Australia, Oscar Piastri was briefly told to hold back from attacking Lando Norris.

The Pit Wall’s Intervention
Last season, there was heated debate in the media regarding McLaren’s team orders—both those given and those omitted. The papaya pit wall was sometimes criticized for not managing the on-track coexistence between Norris and Piastri more effectively, and this topic resurfaced at the start of the 2025 season. For many laps—before the Australian’s mistake when rain returned to the circuit—the two MCL39s set the pace, running dangerously close and poised to battle for victory in the Australian Grand Prix at the Melbourne circuit.

This time, however, the strategists of Andrea Stella’s team stepped in: when Oscar Piastri, having overtaken Max Verstappen, began closing in on his teammate lap after lap, a clear “hold position” call came from the pit wall. To be fair, the message instructing Oscar Piastri to “maintain position” was also influenced by the challenging track conditions at the time.

Backmarkers and Rain: The Reasons for Caution
Piastri’s race engineer, Tom Stallard, radioed his driver, saying, “We should hold position, wait for dry conditions, and clear the backmarkers.” Oscar Piastri replied, “I’m faster, but okay.” Shortly after, Oscar Piastri was given the green light to fight Norris with the message, “Free to race, you know the rules.” By then, however, he had already worn out his tires from running too close behind his teammate, as he later explained after the Grand Prix.

“I think that by the time we were free to race, my front left tire was already a bit damaged from being stuck behind Lando for too long. At that point, there wasn’t much I could do,” the home driver commented. His mistake on lap 43 then erased any chance of victory, though he managed a late recovery to secure ninth place and two points.

“We were catching the backmarkers, there was only one dry line, and we didn’t know if the rain would return,” Oscar Piastri said after the race. “I’ll talk to the team and try to understand the situation better. But I think it’s clear that these kinds of calls can go both ways.”