McLaren relaxes ‘papaya rules’: Norris and Piastri free to race

Oscar Piastri has confirmed that McLaren’s team orders—dubbed the "Papaya Rules"—have been largely relaxed, giving him the green light to race his teammate Lando Norris more freely at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

With Norris’ slim championship hopes taking a big hit last time out in Brazil, McLaren has shifted its focus back to letting both drivers chase their individual goals, save for a few very specific scenarios.

In Sao Paulo, Piastri ceded a potential print race win to his team mate and moved aside in the main race to maximize his teammate’s points haul as Norris chased an increasingly distant Verstappen in the drivers’ championship standings.

Now, however, the dynamic has changed. Speaking ahead of the Las Vegas event, Piastri confirmed the team’s revised approach.

“There's still some, let's say, very specific scenarios where I might be needed to help out. But for the very large majority of situations, it's back to how it was.”

• Read also: Norris opens up on emotional toll of Brazil title blow

The Australian rookie also emphasized that McLaren’s priorities remain clear: securing the best possible results in the constructors’ championship while continuing to fight for individual victories.

“The drivers’ championship picture is very slim, and the constructors’ championship is certainly not over for us,” he added. “It's certainly not a done deal, so that's definitely the biggest thing.

“So it's a very specific few scenarios that maybe I'll still help out if that's what I'm asked to do, but I'm going into the weekend trying to win.”

While Piastri did not object to being asked to help support Norris when requested, he says that having clarity that he is out there for himself is a much better scenario.

“To be honest, I wasn't that disappointed with giving that up,” he said. “Of course, I would have loved to have won the sprint, but it’s a very different scenario to a grand prix.

“I think I proved what I wanted to prove in terms of qualifying on pole. And that was just to myself. Even if I had won the sprint, qualifying on pole was probably the more satisfying thing for me.”

The rookie’s pragmatic approach to team orders is matched by his determination to ensure such situations are less likely in the future.

“I knew I did the right thing in the sprint, and that's good for me. So yeah, I'm happy that we don't have to go into those kinds of things as much anymore,” he continued.

“And obviously next year, I want to make sure that I'm not in a position, championship-wise, to be subject to that.

“But in reality, I probably needed to help out that one time in Brazil and that's been it. So it's been a lot of talk, but not much on-track action.”
McLaren’s recalibrated strategy should offer fans a thrilling prospect: both Piastri and Norris unleashed to race for victories.

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