Formula 1 News: McLaren can scrap 'papaya rules' now

(GMM) McLaren’s Lando Norris is coming under ever more intense scrutiny in his quest to win the 2024 drivers’ world championship.

On the face of it, the Briton’s recovery from his abysmal P17 qualifying effort in Baku was reasonable, as he finished P4 in the wake of the Sergio Perez-Carlos Sainz crash and even passed Max Verstappen on track.

Verstappen’s championship lead therefore dropped from 62 to 59 points.

“I kept that chance alive today,” McLaren driver Norris said after the Azerbaijan GP. “A lot of people didn’t think we could catch up to Max.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 during the Azerbaijan GP at Baku City Circuit

But despite the ‘papaya rules’ regime now playing out at McLaren, it was Norris’ ever more impressive teammate Oscar Piastri who won on Sunday. The young Australian closed his own points deficit to Norris to just 32 points in Baku.

“The most important thing is that Norris is not maximizing again,” former F1 driver Christijan Albers told Viaplay late on Sunday. “That means Max can keep the points losses small.

“Max can count himself lucky that Q1 didn’t go well for Norris,” the Dutchman added. “That kept the damage limited. Piastri won here, but that could have been Norris.”

Albers thinks Verstappen’s best asset at present is that he is “super focused” – in contrast to 24-year-old Norris who admits to struggling with nerves.

“You also have to force good luck,” said the former Minardi driver. “Max is super focused. You don’t see him on the street – he is always busy with his sport.

“Everyone has their own way of preparing, but I think Norris does a lot of activities outside of Formula 1,” added Albers.

Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos warns that Norris cannot take solace in his new and temporary number 1 status at McLaren, given Piastri’s soaring form.

“McLaren don’t have to worry about team orders anymore,” he told Ziggo Sport. “The points difference between Norris and Piastri is now too small for that.”

Race winner Oscar Piastri and his race engineer Tom Stallard

Horner chimes in

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has used Oscar Piastri’s second career Formula One win as an opportunity to pour fuel on the fire that is the ongoing confusion regarding the driver pecking order at rival McLaren.

The Australian’s recent success muddied the waters and Horner took the opportunity to take a shot at his rivals by declaring that there was no confusion for his team – Verstappen is his leader.

“Lando Norris . . . (McLaren are) paying (him) five times what they pay Oscar,” Horner said.

“So, I would assume that he would be their No.1 driver or their biggest asset.

“So, therefore, the confusion comes when you’re not up front from the beginning of what your plans are.”

Piastri now sits fourth in the drivers’ standings only 32 points behind teammate Norris who trails Verstappen by 59 points. Piastri could end up finishing ahead of Norris in the final standings.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella addressed the situation by doubling down on the view that they have “two number one drivers”.

“I think I said already that we have two number one drivers, effectively. And having two number one drivers means that we approach things, first of all, in the interest of the team,” Stella told reporters after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“The interest of the team is to win the constructors’ champions. And, yes, it’s to win the drivers’ championship.

“Lando was in the most favorable position before his race. I think he still is in the most favorable position. So more naturally, we would have supported Lando.

“I think we have evidence today that actually, interestingly, it was Lando supporting Oscar and enabling Oscar’s victory thanks to driving for the team and driving to support his teammates.

“So I think that remains our approach. We always intended to review after every event with each driver, with the driver together, what was going to be the best approach for the next races.

“We will do it and set the plan for Singapore.”