‘Want to win’: McLaren’s huge Lando Norris call hangs Oscar Piastri out to dry

McLaren’s hunt for a first driver’s championship in 16-year has seen the team scrap its “papaya rules” as it chases down Red Bull’s lead.

McLaren’s “papaya rules” will take a back seat as the team throw its support behind British star Lando Norris as the team chases drought-breaking drivers and constructors championships.

It means Oscar Piastri’s ambitions to be the first Aussie F1 world champion since Alan Jones in 1980 are set to be put aside for the team with McLaren just eight points off the constructors’ championship lead, while Norris is just 62 points behind drivers’ championship leader Max Verstappen with eight races still to go.

Every qualifying session and race from the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

The last time the team won a drivers’ championship was with Lewis Hamilton in 2008, while it last won the constructors’ title back in 1998, the last time the team won both titles at the same time.

But while Piastri, who is currently fourth in the drivers’ standings 44 points behind Norris, is technically still in the world championship hunt, the team has thrown its support behind his teammate.

In the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri overtook pole sitter Lando Norris on the della Roggia chicane, which birthed the phrase “papaya rules”.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown was asked to expand on what the so called team rules meant, telling Sky Sports: “The papaya rules are: it’s your teammate, race them hard, race them clean, don’t touch.”

But while Piastri hit the lead, he ultimately finished second when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s one-stop race saw him come in 2.6 seconds ahead of Piastri on a two-stop strategy. Norris finished third while Verstappen was back in sixth.

It meant Norris only made up eight championship points on the Red Bull star, instead of a potential 17 if he had won the race.

It’s Lando’s championship to win. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

With both championships potentially going down to the wire, McLaren have made the call to throw everything behind Norris.

We (will) bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” team principal Andrea Stella told the BBC.

“Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”

And he revealed that Piastri was on board, although seemingly not enthusiastically.

“The conversations have been very collaborative,” Stella said. “Even when I said to Oscar: ‘Would you be available to give up a victory?’ He said: ‘It’s painful, but if it’s the right thing to do now, I will do it’.

“Every driver is hardwired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period.”

Stella said the papaya rules were just a reminder to the drivers to not risk taking each other out when jostling for position.

However, he added the team “don’t want to see any more is a situation like in Monza in which we enter a chicane P1/P2 and we exit P1/P3”.

Oscar first, Leclerc second and Norris third after the move. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

But Stella also said Norris wants to win fair and square.

“Lando wants to win because he deserved the victory on track,” Stella said.

“It’s OK to be occasionally supported by your teammate, but you don’t want to use, systematically, ways of adjusting the race just for the sake of the points when your teammate is scoring in a way that he deserves.

“This is not the way McLaren want to win, or the way Lando wants to win.

“If I ask Lando, he would say: ‘I am comfortable if in Abu Dhabi (end of the year) I miss a few points that I could have got with some actions, but if those actions were not right at the time, then, you know what? We keep strong as a team, the team is stable and cohesive, we will give it a go next year’.”

It comes as F1 figures called for McLaren to prioritise their top driver.

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner told the Red Flags podcast it was time for McLaren to go and win the titles.

“How many times in your lifetime have you got the chance to win a world championship? Not many,” he said on the Red Flags podcast.

“Now they got the chance, and they cannot decide who is number one, who is number two, who is overtaking whom.

“We need to tell Zak (Brown), ‘f**k the Papaya rules, go and win the championship’.

“How many times in life can you win two championships in one season?

“In the moment when you’ve got the chance to win two championships, constructors’ and drivers’, I think you just need to (do) whatever it is, even if one guy is unhappy.

“I don’t know, do you have to pay money, do you have to make him promises for next year? Whatever, in my opinion, whatever you need to do, you do. Because these moments are not coming up often in Formula 1.”

Not what Oscar wants to hear. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Former world champion Nico Rosberg said the decision would be tough on Piastri to yield a position — but that Norris wouldn’t want that either.

“In Lando’s situation you want to win races on merit and not because your teammate helps you,” the 2016 world champion said.

“ (Piastri’s Monza move), for example? You wouldn’t see it as your teammate helping you if the team said ‘calm down, hold position to keep the Ferraris behind’.

“It is hard on Oscar. Because he will have a No. 1 contract. It won’t say in his contract ‘you need to help Lando’.

“He’s driving brilliantly also. He deserves every opportunity to get race wins. Mathematically he can still be world champion. He’s not that far behind Lando.

“It’s a hard ask for Oscar to start forfeiting race wins, potentially.”

Originally published as ‘Want to win’: McLaren’s huge Lando Norris call hangs Oscar Piastri out to dry